


Burning For You

by Drachenkinder



Series: Set the World on Fire [2]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Abusive Relationship, F/M, Homophobic Thoughts, Implied Torture, M/M, Minor Character Death, Porn, Self-Harm, Violence, anti-bdsm beliefs, criminal activity, dub-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-08-11 15:09:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 50,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16477889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drachenkinder/pseuds/Drachenkinder
Summary: Part 2 of Set the World on FireAU   Loki street performer and runaway prince.   Wealthy Fight Promoter Grandmaster.





	1. Chapter 1

Introduction:

Thor was brooding over the latest embassy dispatches. Asgard’s largest neighboring nation was making noises about freeing those under oppressive regimes, which was the usual propaganda for invasion, while the smaller ones were talking about traditional values and strong leadership, which was code for abusing human rights and silencing opposing views. 

Thor hoped that once again Asgard would be overlooked on the world stage, like a small piece of furniture so generic it fit in every scene. Squirreled away in the mountains, with neither strategic importance nor resources worth exporting, it also had the good luck to be so far off the beaten path that it had been disregarded in every major war for the last five hundred years. Not that Asgard hadn’t sent soldiers. If they had an export it was warriors. Their people had fought in conflicts all over Europe, and more than once on opposing sides. They were renowned as excellent mercenaries, who once bought never deserted nor surrendered.

But since the days of long distance weapons, even their tiny city state was not safe from the attentions of larger nations. Odin had managed to keep them neutral through crafty political maneuvering, but as his father shifted more of the ruling of Asgard onto his shoulders, Thor found himself at a loss. He’d counted on his younger brother’s devious mind to help him with the difficult task of keeping their neighbor’s opposing politics in balance. It wasn’t only outside pressures, the information age had finally arrived in Asgard. With the internet had come new ideas and new problems. Things that Thor had accepted as truth were proving to be little more than tradition and opinion. He sometimes felt like the very ground he walked on was sifting away, like sand running through an hourglass. An apt analogy Thor thought, without Loki’s help, Asgard would likely be absorbed by one of their neighbors and become a minor footnote in history. 

Thor sighed, and put the papers away. He missed his brother. He knew that Loki’s disappearance was, on some level, his fault. If he hadn’t been drinking so much, if he’d overlooked the men badmouthing the king’s anti-union stance, Loki would not have got lost. If after the fight Thor had gone looking for Loki, instead of going off for more drinking with his friends, Loki would have never ended up in that disgusting club. Thor turned his mind away from what his brother had done that night. He’d been drugged out of his mind. If only Odin hadn’t made such a big deal out of it. He'd sent Thor off to the US by plane the next morning and confronted a hung over and confused Loki with the shameful facts of his birth. Thor’s thoughts veered away from the bitter words he’d overheard as he was hurried out of the castle to catch his plane. When he was allowed back home he’d tried to get Loki released from the sanatorium, but Odin was adamant. Thor was sickened by the little he’d found out about the place, once it was closed down.

When Loki was finally back home, after his disastrous escapade across Europe and his capture in New York, he was so changed Thor barely knew him. Loki had become silent and secretive and the few words he let escape were venomous, as though he was determined to poison every good memory of their childhood and youth. Thor hoped in time they could repair their relationship. He’d tried to let Loki know that he still considered him his brother, no matter how he’d been conceived. But as he could not, out of love for their mother, voice her betrayal, Thor was handicapped in his assurances. He’d said several times how much he loved and respected Frigga in the hopes that Loki would understand. 

Thor had thought they were making progress. Loki was at least civil to him if not affectionate. He was actively studying and according to his tutors, doing quite well. He was off drugs and rarely took a drink. His little brother had even arranged for a woman to visit him, a few times a month, so Thor thought maybe the clinic, for all its problems had done Loki some good. Loki had always been scrupulous about staying away from the servants, and with his house arrest in effect, he’d had to resort to the services of a professional.

She was quite a bit older then Loki, but still beautiful and she dressed very modestly. Thor only found out about her by accident. He’d been in the storage rooms under the castle hunting a box of legal records for Odin when he’d heard voices from the adjacent holding cells. He’d glanced around the corner long enough to see Loki, with his hair disarrayed, his clothes rumpled and his color high, kissing the woman’s hand and thanking her profusely. The quick exchange of cash and promise for another meeting had explained the encounter. Thor had ducked out of sight, both relieved and amused. His brother had become so jealous of his private life that he’d been meeting the woman in the old dungeons rather than simply having her sent to his rooms. He’d even set a lock on one of the cell doors to ensure their privacy. Thor had however, sent Hogan to watch her for a few days. Other than Loki, her clientele visited her home. The men were of the very highest level of society, and there was not even a whiff of intrigue about any of them. Thor had dismissed her and decided not to mention the situation to their father. There was little enough that his brother had to himself.

It wasn’t until after their mother's death, when Loki had runaway yet again, that Thor thought to unlock that private room. The things he found there looked like they been taken from a medieval torture chamber. Some of them, like the chains and iron shackles, had in fact come from the forgotten relics of Asgard’s past, but most were modern interpretations. Thor had ordered the woman arrested and questioned, but she knew nothing of Loki’s whereabouts. Thor was furious that she had manipulated Loki’s mental illness so she could indulge her sick fantasies, all the while making him pay for her attention. Her claims that their interactions were Loki’s ideas, Thor dismissed. As much as he wanted her in prison, he was forced to simply escort her to Asgard’s borders and banish her. A trial would destroy his brother’s reputation all over again. Plus his father would have had to be informed. Thor couldn’t burden him with further proof of Loki’s poor state of mind while he was mourning Frigga’s death. 

Thor was still ruminating about all his past mistakes and missed opportunities when his phone pinged with a message from Fandral. Thor opened it to find a link to a video titled ‘Crazy Fire Guy’. Wondering what Fandral was up to was a waste of time. He clicked the link fully expecting to be Rickrolled again. Instead it was of some Goth performing a fire show. It was pretty impressive but Thor had no idea why Fandral had sent him the link. That is until the video got to the close up card tricks. Thor realized that the Goth who was smirking and flirting and pulling smoking cards from thin air, was his missing brother.

 

"Burnin' For You"  
Blue Oyster Cult

Home in the valley  
Home in the city  
Home isn't pretty  
Ain't no home for me

Home in the darkness  
Home on the highway  
Home isn't my way  
Home I'll never be

Burn out the day  
Burn out the night  
I can't see no reason to put up a fight  
I'm living for giving the devil his due

And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you  
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

Time is the essence  
Time is the season  
Time ain't no reason  
Got no time to slow

Time everlasting  
Time to play B–sides  
Time ain't on my side  
Time I'll never know

Burn out the day  
Burn out the night  
I'm not the one to tell you what's wrong or what's right  
I've seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through

But I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you  
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

Burn out the day  
Burn out the night  
I can't see no reason to put up a fight  
I'm living for giving the devil his due

And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you  
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you  
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you  
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

1981 Buck Dharma, Richard Meltzer


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki makes plans, and En works on Loki's style. Shopping.

Loki stood at the work table and looked over the blueprint of the hotel’s ground floor, mapping out the exit routes and stairways. The upgrades had been piecemeal over the years, the wiring alone was a disaster of everything from knob and tube to Romex. He’d done a little exploring after his trip into the rigging and he was quite frankly surprised the place hadn’t gone up in flames decades before. There had been a few fires in the past, but none had done more than minimum damage. A combination of good luck and its proximity to the original fire department had saved the old building. The hotel had been in the hands of one family for most of its life and as their fortunes declined, so had the building’s maintenance. Loki wondered how much En had spent in bribes, so inspectors would overlook the fact that the upgrades were solely cosmetic. Undoubtedly, it was lot less then if he’d actually had the place brought up to code. 

Loki was working on the problem of a controllable fire. En had vetoed the idea of closing the place down completely, it would look too suspicious, so Loki was trying to minimize potential casualties. En had agreed to a fake elevator failure on the day prior, to remove any elderly or handicapped guests to adjoining hotels. The employees would close the highest rooms on some pretense, which Loki hadn't figured out yet. He was planning a top down fire to flush people outside, instead of a bottom up one. It was harder to devise and harder to make sure it had spread enough to be effective without either trapping someone or being discovered too soon. Loki was counting on a slow burn with little smoke to get it started. Then, once everyone was out, a fast flare up that would ensure the place was unsalvageable. 

Loki had come up with the idea of an outside entertainment that would lure the guests away from their rooms to the grounds. They'd schedule it out for three days, but have the fire on the first day. Holding the event in the early afternoon so people would be awake was Loki's choice. He also wanted a monitored play area for kids to keep them safe. The doors would have to be watched to keep track of who was inside and who was out. If they moved some of the gambling equipment to the parking lot and offered free drinks more guests should go outside. A computer malfunction to shut down the slot machines and gamming room should convince even the most hard core gamblers to abandon the building. The last touch was to have the equipment moving trucks and guests park on the long driveway, to slow up the arriving firetrucks. 

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was better than En’s original idea. The only way Loki could ensure no one died was to alert the authorities to En’s scheme. If he tried it, at the very least he’d be deported. Asgard didn’t have much pull but it had enough to have its wayward son returned home. At the worst? En might have people in the local police and Loki would end up in an unmarked grave somewhere in the rugged wilderness surrounding Tahoe. Either way En would go forward with his deadly first idea and there would be a lot more casualties. Ratting him out it would also mean Loki would loose the company of a man he found addictive. Not exactly a healthy relationship, Loki thought, looking at where En was busy on his computer, going over the statistics on his stable of fighters, but one he, for the most part, enjoyed. Almost as if he could hear Loki’s thoughts, En turned his head and gave Loki a slow smirk. Loki felt his throat tighten and his heartbeat speed up.

“Hey Kitten, you ready for a break?” En drawled as stood and stretched with a languid grace that belied his strength.

“What did you have in mind?” Loki asked straightening up from the table and lifting his chin to take En’s kiss. That his ass was grabbed and squeezed in one long fingered hand was so common a caress it barely evoked a more than a soft whine. He slide his arms around En’s waist, hugging him close and nuzzled his throat. En tugged at his braided hair hard enough to hurt and dug his fingers into Loki's butt cheek. That got a gasp. Loki’s ass was still sore from the beating he’d received three days ago, mostly because En kept finding reasons to give him a hard swat now and again. Loki kissed along his chin, stubble rough on his lips and nipped En’s earlobe. He was rewarded by a sharp pull on his hair and the expected slap that stung even through the jeans.

Loki let him go with a laugh. The brief encounter already causing his groin to pulse as his cock started to harden. 

“I’m thinking, a steak lunch first... that place on the lake, hmmm?’ En asked and ran a finger over Loki’s newly shorn scalp. “And maybe a stylist to trim this up a little better. Not that I don’t like the look Honey, but it’s a bit too ragged for the show, you know what I mean?”

Loki wrinkled his forehead, he’d cut his hair this morning, shaving the sides and chopping off the longest ends. It was supposed to look ragged. Besides the show was on hold until the new fire curtain arrived and was installed. 

“My hair is cut in the manner I like. En.” Loki said.

“I like it too Baby, but you could let a professional show you what else you could do with it. Give you a you plus look. No harm in trying something new.” En said, and tightened his hand in Loki’s hair again.

Loki sighed, whether at the sweet tingle in his scalp, or the inevitability that En would get what he wanted, he wasn’t sure.

“Alright En. As long as I have the final word on any cutting.”

“Of course Lolo.” En said. “Then we could go shopping for clothes. I need a new summer suit and you need, well, everything.”

En smiled and Loki couldn’t help but smile back. He really did like buying clothes and En had exquisite taste. Or perhaps it was that everything he wore looked the height of fashion as soon as he put it on. Loki folded up the plans and put them in the safe along with his notes. Nothing incriminating. He wasn’t fool enough to write himself into a prison cell.

The restaurant was good, the food and view both excellent and the attention they garnered gratifying. Loki did get a trim. En was true to his word to let him keep the same punk look, but it was refined, the fade neater and the tousled look deliberate rather than simply messy. En was an old customer and received both a straight razor shave and a haircut. Loki’s make up was reapplied with a lighter hand, though the woman kept to his favored pallet. Over a base of his jet black, a top layer of clear glitter was applied to both his nails and lips. It added a subtle shimmer that Loki found eye catching, without being garish. He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or insulted that En wore the same sparkle on his lips and blue painted nails.

They went not to a clothes store, but to a tailor’s and Loki was measured and fitted by an assistant while En discussed fabrics and styles with the owner. En picked out a suit for Loki, along with a choice of more casual clothing, all of it reflecting Loki's Goth punk aesthetic, but with En's refining influence. A cobblers was their next stop, where two more pairs of boots and dress shoes for the suit were ordered for Loki and another pair of dress shoes for En. It was only after the footwear order was complete, did they go to a private room in the back.

Loki gazed around in wonder at the leather and rubber offerings on the wall. It was odd to be custom fitted with leather cuffs and shackles and pick from black lambskin or velvet for the lining. (Lambskin.) To stand still and have a muzzle adjusted to fit his face. Stranger still to have En hand him various vibrators to feel their power and pulse in his hand while the owner explained their features. It was embarrassing when En picked out butt plugs for him and discussed with the guy how their different shapes would affect him. A selection of lubricants and oils was suggested and they joined the purchases. A wide leather and chain collar was the last thing En had him try on and Loki had to admit it looked good on his long neck. Loki wore it out of the backroom and its unfamiliar clasp made him carry his head high.

He waited while En made some secret purchases of his own. Loki carried the bag of toys back to the car but was unable to sneak a peek at what En had bought. He was hard from thinking about what they would soon be doing, when they arrived at the hotel. En noticed his arousal and spent the slow elevator trip up to the penthouse rubbing his hand up and down the front of Loki’s pants, while staring at the closed doors and otherwise ignoring him. 

Loki’s anticipation had been building for the last hour and he was almost frantic when the doors finally opened. He dropped the toy bag at the foot of the bed and began peeling off his clothes. En picked up the bag as he walked past to the bar where he made himself a cocktail.

“You look a little bothered there, Kitten. You need something?” En said leaning on the bar and sipping his drink. He fished out the cherry and licked his tongue over it, before pulling it between his lips. That sight made Loki shiver. He stood barefoot and shirtless, with his boxer covered cock jutting from his open fly.

“Yes, I need you to come over here and fuck me old man.” Loki said. “Unless you have used all of your little blue pills and cannot get your cock up anymore.” 

En chuckled. “Baby, you must be desperate for punishment to act like this.” He took a final sip of his drink finishing it off. He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, picked the toy bag back up and sauntered to the closet. The shirt was dropped in the clothes chute and En’s pants followed. He glanced over at Loki considering.

“You’re pretty thing Lolo, but you’re too greedy.” En said.

Loki skinned out his pants. He scrambled up on the bed, clad in only the boxers and collar, a feral grin on his face. He loved the way En looked, lean and hard muscled and his chest covered with silver grey hair. The older man was confident and relaxed even when dressed in only his underwear and socks.

“I know what I want and I am unafraid to ask for it.” Loki said. “I am not one of your ass kissing employees.”

En smiled at him, and stepped into the closet taking the toy bag with him. 

"Just a cock sucking one?" En called out.

"Come find out." Loki teased.

He heard the clatter of hangers, the rustle of material and then a soft metal clang that matched the sound of a wall safe closing. Loki wondered what was taking En so long. He stroked himself through the thin material of his underwear, eager to begin. En stepped out of the closet clad in a fresh blue dress shirt and grey pinstriped pants, his suit jacket hanging open as he adjusted something under his arm. A dark red tie was draped over his shoulder.

“That mouth of yours... I gotta say I’m real tempted. It’s too bad I have a plane to catch.” En said. “I’d love to stay and teach you a lesson Honey, but the business… It doesn’t run itself.”

“You fucking bastard!” Loki snarled, angry that he’d allowed himself to look like a needy slut. “If you leave now, what causes you to think I will be here when you return?”

En straightened his shirt around the harness. It took Loki a second to recognize it was a shoulder holster. En pulled a nine mil from the holster and ejected the cartridge, inspected it and snapped it back in. He gave Loki a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and strode toward the bed, gun in hand. 

Loki was silent, tensed on his knees as En approach, his eyes on the gun, waiting for En to make his move. En stopped a few feet away checked the safety, and holstered the weapon. He buttoned the jacket and stepped past Loki to open the nightstand and take out a small box holding a pair of gold cufflinks and a tiepin.

“You’ll be here Loki.” En said as he sat on the bed and fastened on a cufflink. “And you’ll have all the wrinkles in your cute little plan ironed out.” 

He handed the other one to Loki and held out his wrist. Loki took it in hands that only shook a little and secured it in place. En put the tie around his neck and passed Loki the tiepin. Loki straightened the tie, tied it and clipped on the pin. En fondled Loki’s ass through the boxers while he worked, his fingers tucked the material in between Loki's butt cheeks. Loki couldn't hold back a moan as En rubbed his fingertips over Loki's asshole. En's lips brushed over the younger man’s cheek in a soft kiss. 

“Brian is staying behind so you won’t be lonely and to uh… make sure you don’t get all lazy on me.” En said softly in Loki's ear. 

Loki heard the threat. He shivered from En's breath hot in his ear, or from his words. Brian was a stone cold killer and Loki had better keep in line until En returned. Loki’s morning workouts were a thin excuse for his presence.

En stood up, turned in a circle.

“How do I look Sugar?” He asked.

“Good enough to eat, old man.” Loki answered, with what could pass as a smile. He closed the cufflink's box and returned it to the nightstand.

“Oh and Lolo…” En said.

Loki looked up in time to catch the back of En’s hand across his mouth. The force of the blow knocked him back on the bed and split his lip.

“Remember that little talk we had about respect? You…You need to work on that Baby. I’d hate to have to get rough with you.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “Fuck you.” He growled.

En laughed and swept over to the elevator. He smirked at Loki and the steel doors closed removing him from sight. Loki heard the sound of the motor and the creaking cables as the car descended. He lay back on the bed, touched his fingers to his lips and looked at the blood on them. He licked his tongue over the wound, tasted copper. Loki shut his eyes and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, that was mean. Poor Loki all alone and the new toys locked away. Whatever will he do?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for violence and implied torture. En has to take care of some distasteful business while Loki decides he's bored with staying in.

The drive to the Tahoe airport was pleasant, the late afternoon sun behind him and the air warm and dry. En didn’t bother owning a private jet. He preferred to drive if he had the time. He liked the feeling of the road reeling away behind him and the beauty of his antique cars. Time was the ultimate luxury, time to enjoy the scenery, to enjoy company, to spend like an endless supply of money. Normally he would have driven to San Francisco in the convertible, top down if the weather was nice and appreciating the increasing heat of the central valley. But there was a delicate problem that required his personal attention. Some information that should have stayed in house, had found its way into the wrong hands and an amateurish attempt at blackmail was the result. He needed to know how far the rot had spread and, as he thought of it, pull the weeds when they were small. He could have left it to Joshua, but in cases like these En preferred the hands on approach.

The identity exchange was made in the garage of the private airport. To all appearances En passed a sealed courier envelope to Brian, who then boarded the chartered Cessna to Los Angeles, while En continued on in the convertible to Reno. Once there he took a commercial flight to south to Las Vegas, where he spent the evening at the roulette tables.

In fact it was En, wearing the redhead's cheap suit and gliding with his predatory walk across the blacktop to the small jet. They'd done this before whenever En had required an alibi. At first glance the two men were very different. Brian was in his mid-thirties, pale and acne scarred, with cold grey eyes and carrot colored hair. En, in contrast was sixtyish, deeply tanned and silver haired, with golden brown eyes that sparkled with humor. However they were the same height with the same slender build, and similar strong features. Skillfully applied make up changed skin color, altered completion and age, and contacts took care of the eyes. Wigs were all that was needed for the hair.

The rest was acting. Brian's taciturn nature, monosyllabic answers, and constant scanning of any space as though looking for enemies were such a major part of his personality that imitating them well overrode any minor imperfections in the physical appearance. En's garrulous and broken speech patterns and flamboyant body language were enough that he was immediately recognizable. Their masquerade wouldn't fool anyone who knew them well, but En made sure that his double only visited casinos where he wasn't well known and Brian was such a recluse that maintaining his identity was seldom a problem.

******

Loki was pissed off, horny and bored, never a good combination. His too needy reaction to En's teasing was irritating. He kept replaying the afternoon in his mind, getting more agitated each time. The implied threat of Brian's surveillance, meant to keep him in line, began to look a puzzle to be solved, rather than a command to be obeyed. Loki decided that giving into the challenge without testing it first would lose him points in the game they were playing. His part was to get as close to the limit of En's patience as he could without irredeemably breaking it. It was a dangerous game to be sure, but that was the appeal. 

Considering the problem, Loki came up with three different ways to leave the building unnoticed by either security or his babysitter. There were cameras throughout the public spaces of the main floor, in the corridors of the other floors and in the public elevators. En's penthouse elevator on the other hand had no cameras nor did the working spaces or his personal garage. Loki however didn't have the code to unlock the garage, and he wasn't certain it didn't have an alarm that went straight to Brian's quarters. The elevator could get him to the kitchen and office level or the basement and garage level, but it didn't open on the other floors. Plus it was distinctively noisy, and unlikely to go unnoticed. Loki put his best plan into action.

The penthouse elevator arrived for the third time on the main floor. The doors opened. The security guard gave a cursory glance inside. It was empty as it had been the last two times. Probably a short in the wiring, he thought, making a mental note to refer it to maintenance in the morning. He turned away and strode back down the hall, past the kitchens and office on his way to the backstage area of the lounge. 

Loki waited till he heard the guard walk away and dropped out of the emergency escape hatch where he’d hid as the elevator descended the third time. He cautiously peered out and saw the retreating back of the elderly uniformed guard. The guy was easy to track as he muttered to himself as he walked his rounds. Loki shrugged and draped the hand towel he’d taken from the bathroom, over his arm. He balanced the toiletries tray he’d also stolen on one hand and walked toward the restaurant. Clad in a pair of En’s black dress pants, and a white long sleeved shirt and wearing a black handkerchief as a du-rag to cover his green dyed hair, he looked enough like a bus boy to pass unaccosted. Adopting the head down self-effacing posture encouraged in menials he worked his way around the periphery of the dining room. He slipped into the bathroom and went into a stall. Removing the black pants revealed a second pair of white ones underneath and he lifted up his undershirt to pull out a carefully folded linen jacket and flat cap. In a moment the stooping slightly plump busboy was replaced by a tall slender man on the town. Loki stood on the stool to hide the remains of his disguise in the drop down ceiling. He checked his appearance in the mirror, tucking a few stray hairs under the cap, slipped on a pair of sunglasses and sauntered across the restaurant and out the front doors.

******

En had plenty of time to think on the flight. He turned from the difficulty in San Francisco to the difficulty of his new boy. Loki was quite a handful. He’d known there was some potential in the beautiful young man when he’d seen his performance back in Frisco. Loki had style and a certain reckless grace that caught his attention, but he wouldn’t have pursued it had the boy not had the audacity to lift his wallet. The way he’d followed En back to the car, even though he could see the kid was scared, that really raised his interest. Loki’s brazen bravado was so much fun! Especially as it hid, not a shallow callous punk as he’d expected, but this sensitive wounded creature. The scars on his body were nothing compared to the scars on his mind and En was enjoying breaking each one open. He loved the way Loki kept coming back for more. 

Loki was too smart for his own good. That was already a problem. En didn’t like having his plans altered and no one threatened him and got away with it. Except Loki hadn’t wanted to get away with it. Which was why he was still alive. En shut his eyes and smiled like the Cheshire cat. He remembered Loki, half naked, En’s knife at his throat and how instead of cowering in fear, he was begging, no demanding that En fuck him. That the little shit had dared to strike him, while he was at En’s mercy was incredible. He’d paid for it, was still paying for it, and the best part to En was that he craved every bit of his punishment.  
En shook his head. The way Loki had taken charge of the hotel issue, as En liked to think of it, told him a lot about the boy. The clever prince was more than willing to break the law for him, as long as it didn’t violate his own sense of right and wrong. Loki had an annoying respect for life. En didn’t. Not in general, and in particular only as it pertained to loyalties. Which brought him right back to the San Francisco problem. His man in San Francisco had been either incompetent, in which case he needed an object lesson or had been disloyal, which meant he needed to be removed from the organization.

He disembarked in Los Angeles, rented a car in Brian’s name at the airport and drove to a real estate office that handled a small number of his properties. En had called ahead so the realtor was waiting for the delivery and went right to work on the instructions for a last minute cash bid on a closing sale. The entire transaction would take a few hours and he was to call ‘Brian’ when it was finished. En then drove to a nearby cheap hotel where he rented a room from a bored night manager and checked that the only cameras were one at the front desk and one on the parking lot. A line up of pay-per-view movies and a low playing TV gave the appearance of occupancy. He placed his suit in a garment bag, changed into black jeans and a dark, long sleeved shirt and climbed out the back window. A short walk across a vacant lot and he met Joshua in a nearby parking lot. 

******

Loki smiled, so far so good. There were a lot of people moving about the front of the hotel, getting into or out of cabs, calling for the valets, and picking up or dropping off their cars. It was a simple matter to slip the wallet from the back pocket of a drunk. It was a little more difficult to slip it into the guy’s jacket pocket after he’d removed the cash, but Loki accomplished the trick without arousing suspicion. The report of pickpocket could get back to En and Loki didn’t think he’d be amused at Loki targeting the hotel’s guests. A bit of missing cash however, the guy would most likely attributed to his drunken state. His adventure now funded, Loki climbed into the next available cab and headed out for a taste of Tahoe’s nightlife.

He was in the third club of the evening, taking a break from dancing when he spotted the girl checking him out. In the cab he’d taken down his hair, replaced his jewelry and put on his eyeliner. That in combination with the expensive clothing gave him an aura of rebel and old money that was working well this evening. He hadn’t wanted for dance partners and had received a few offers to get better acquainted, but he wasn’t ready to call it a night just yet. He’d felt eyes on him and glanced over to see a pretty black girl boldly giving him the once over.

She was seriously hot. About a foot shorter then Loki, but in perfect proportion and with luscious curves in all the right places. Her cornrowed hair fell into braids that brushed her bared ebony shoulders and her teeth gleamed small and white, behind full red lips when she returned his smile. The bartender put four drinks on the bar and she looked at them, distressed and turned her gaze back to Loki. He accepted the challenge and taking his own glass, he gathered up two others and followed her back to her table. Three other black girls waited there and they invited him to join them. 

The small girl’s name was Sigyn and she explained that they were all in Tahoe for the weekend from UCLA. Loki listened to her talk, she was funny and sweet and was working on her degree in medicine, hoping to join the ranks of surgeons. She’d assisted in a doctors without borders trip last year and was looking forward to another trip this summer. Loki let her story wash over him. He’d never consider a trip cleaning up after surgeries and assisting sick people in any way attractive, but her enthusiasm was contagious. They talked and danced and talked some more. The drinks flowed freely for her friends but Loki was taking nothing more the soda now and Sigyn was nursing her drinks. He spun her a tale that he was a business major (that part was true enough), staying here with his parents at their vacation home while his father conducted bank transactions. The lie served him well, for who would want to go back to the familial home for a bit of fun? The other girls decided to move on to another club, but Sigyn pleaded tiredness and they left with a few laughing comments. 

******

Joshua drove north in the battered Nissan SUV, and after a couple of hours turned off the coast highway to drive back into the rough hills south of San Francisco. They left the road to drive up a dirt track to an abandoned barn. A nondescript sedan waited outside the barn. En donned protective booties and a hairnet and followed Joshua inside. The place was empty with the exception of a folding chair, a couple of closed ten gallon buckets and a cattle chute. Chained to the bars of the chute was a flabby looking young man with a gag in his mouth and a terrified look on his face. En took a chair, placed it in front of the man and straddled it, resting his hands on the backrest and his chin on his hands. Joshua took off the gag and went to lean against the wall by the door. The man tracked Joshua’s movements with wide frightened eyes.  
Now that was cute, En thought. The silly fellow was hardly attending to him. En smiled. 

“Now Tod,” He said, “it is Tod isn’t it?”

The man turned to En and shook his head no. After a couple of attempts he managed to choke out, “No! I’m Tim! Timothy!”

En loved the flash of hope across the guy’s face that perhaps they’d made a mistake.

“Joshua?” En asked.

“It’s Timothy sir. Works as the new pharmaceutical assistant at Phar More Drugs.” Joshua answered. “The handwriting and prints on the envelope match.”

“I never doubted you, Joshua.” En said and smiled. “Now Tod, we have a little problem here. You, and I’m highly disappointed, just so disappointed… you violated doctor patient confidentiality. Umm, I wonder… does that extend to pharmacist patient privilege?”

En looked at Tim expectantly.

“Well Honey, does it?”

“Yes sir.” Tim stuttered after Joshua pushed off the wall.

“Good, good, glad to see that we agree.” En said affably. “Were getting along here… so well…have this all cleared up in no time, huh? Now Tod, what I need to know is, I need to understand is… how you got your hands on that prescription that your boss makes up for my boys. You see, Baby, if he’s slipping, if your boss is getting careless, well maybe it wasn’t all your fault. He leaves stuff like that laying around, who could blame you for…for taking advantage of an opportunity?”

The look of relief on Tim’s face was really touching, En thought. Let’s see what lies he comes up with. He gave the young man an encouraging smile.

******

Their hotel was close and Sigyn accepted Loki’s offer to accompany her to her hotel. She didn’t object when he came inside and walked across the lobby, nor when he entered the empty elevator with her. It was there she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him down for a kiss. It was clumsy and their noses bumped and Loki felt her teeth in his lip before they got their mouths aligned, but then it was slow and deep with building passion. So much so they missed her floor and had to ride back down in the company of an elderly couple who gave them looks at their combined snickering. 

Once inside her room everything suddenly turned awkward. Sigyn offered Loki coffee and a strained silence filled the room as they waited while the tiny pot brewed. He sat on the one chair and she sat on the edge of the bed and fiddled with her braids.

“I’ve never done anything like this.” Sigyn said.

“You do not have to now.” Loki answered. “I have had a good time. I will leave if you like.” 

He rose to his feet and offered her a smile.

“No. Don’t leave.” She said. “I didn’t mean like I’d never had sex.” She paused and gave him an ‘as if’ face. “Usually I’m the one getting hit on. I just never picked up a boy before.”

“Ah.” said Loki and sat down beside her on the bed. “I have picked up lots of boys. Let me show you how it is done.”

She giggled at his words and leaned against him as he slid an arm around her shoulders.

“With the shy ones you start slow.” Loki said.

He breathed in her scent, warm and spicy and feminine. He kissed her forehead, her nose and her full cherry flavored lips. She sighed and tilted back her head. Her skin was incredibly smooth and soft under his lips. He kissed down her throat as she leaned back. He lifted his head and cupped her cheek.

“You can tell me to stop at any time. OK?” Loki said.

Her black eyes sparkled. “Are all white boys this cautious, or is it just you?” She said. “I need you to stop mister, you’ll know it.”

Loki laughed. “Now that sounded like a threat.”

“You keep talking and not doing, you’ll know what a threat is.” She answered.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Loki said and grinned. 

He unbuttoned her shirt and she sat up to shrug it off. Underneath was a strapless bra that pushed up the mounds of her breasts like an offering. Loki couldn’t resist. He lowered his head to nuzzle them. She pushed him away with a giggle and reached back to undo her bra. He dropped off the bed to kneel between her feet. He cupped her breasts as they came free and leaned back to admire her. Loki loved the contrast of his pale thin hands against her full dark breasts and how her nipples hardened when he rubbed his thumbs around the areolas. She sighed softly and he leaned forward to lick and then suck one fat nipple into his mouth. He purred at the taste of her skin and how her tits felt, heavy and soft in his hands.

Loki sucked and licked and sucked until she was moaning. He took his lips off only to take her other nipple in his mouth and suckle and lap. He loved how she leaned into him how her hand came up to the grasp the back of his head and pull him closer. His cock was hardening, pressing against the silk of the borrowed boxers and tenting the linen pants. He wondered for a moment where En was and what he would do if he knew what Loki was doing. The thought of him sent a jolt down Loki’s spine, so much so he had to pull away from Sigyn to get his bearings back. 

She was beautiful, her lips parted her eyes soft and her breasts heaving with her panting breath. Loki blinked and shook his head to clear his mind from the intruding thought and reached for the snap of her capris. She stood up slide them off and tugged at his jacket. Loki pushed away her hands, worried she might damage En’s clothing. He took off the jacket, shirt and undershirt himself folding them carefully and laying them on the back of the chair. Seeing she was dressed only in panties, Loki shed the pants and added them to the pile. 

******

The boy was soft, En thought. They’d barely begun and already he was contradicting himself. His attention had shifted, a while back, to En, where it should be. Joshua was completely forgotten by the would be pharmacist. He had even looked relieved, or well, somewhat relieved, En amended, when En had left to take a piss and stretch and get a drink, and Joshua had come to keep the young man company. Questioning someone wasn’t as easy as it looked. Easier, of course, on the questioner then the questioned. But still he needed to take a break now and then to keep his mind sharp. 

En wondered what Loki was up to in his absence, some kind of mischief no doubt. He was a liar too, but more skilled then the boy in the barn. It didn’t matter. En would have the truth out of him when he returned and Loki would pay for any transgressions. That thought brought a true smile to En’s face. He rather hoped their little game didn’t end too soon. En sighed, finished the water bottle, (No cocktails while working was a hard and fast rule.) and returned to his work. Poor Tim didn’t look that pleased to see him, which was only to be expected.

“Now Baby.” En said taking his seat back as Joshua returned to the wall. “Tell me all about your girlfriend. I know you said you sent her an email tonight, but Toddy, we just can’t find any evidence that you did. In fact Honey, she hasn’t been returning your emails in what… three weeks now? I know, I know, love can be so cruel. Really sad when you think about it. Hard to know who you can trust, huh? But you trust me, right?Sugar? You know I won’t lie to you.” 

En tilted his head at the sobbing man.

“I’m waiting for an answer here, Sweetheart.”

******

Sigyn slipped off her panties as Loki turned, revealing a trimmed patch of short black hair between her plump thighs. 

“You next.” She said. Loki obliged by sliding the boxers down freeing his erection and baring his snake tattoo. 

“What the fuck is that? Are you some kind of witch?” Sigyn asked, her eye’s suddenly wide.

Loki grinned like a wolf, his smile gone nasty at her show of fear. 

“My magic is legend, woman.” He said as he approached, his voice a low growl. “As are my lusts.”

She looked at him startled. The gentle, careful lover of a moment ago had disappeared and in his place was this confident predator. At the club he’d been urbane with a touch of mischievous humor. He changed like quicksilver and Sigyn was suddenly afraid of what she had let into her room. 

“Wait.” She said, and backed up till her knees touched the edge of the bed.

Loki stopped and quirked a brow. “A little ink throw you off?” He mocked. “Or are you afraid of snakes, little girl? Mine doesn’t bite.” He ran his hand up the length of his jutting cock and half closed his eyes. “Or perhaps you just like to watch?” 

The smile flashed again, a dare of bared teeth and leering eyes.

Her heart hammered, she felt like a rabbit in the gaze of a fox. Despite her earlier brave words she realized how much bigger and stronger he was. He didn’t need her permission, he was close enough that he could be on her before she could scream and take what he wanted. He was watching her, reading her face like it was a book and his tongue darted out to lick over his lips. Somehow that was more frightening then his veiled words or the ravenous threat of his smile. It was an obscene echo of the tongue of the black and green snake that coiled over his thigh. She didn’t want that thing anywhere near her, even if it _was_ only a tattoo.

“No!” she said.

“What?” Loki opened his eyes all the way, dropped his hand and frowned.

“No. I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to do this with you.” She took a deep breath. “You need to leave.”

“Fuck!” Loki spat. 

He took half a step forward and for a moment Sigyn thought he was going to hit her or push her back on the bed. Instead he turned on his heel and walked back to the chair and picked up the boxers. She gasped out loud when she saw the purple and yellow bruises that covered his ass and thighs. He glanced back over his shoulder at her and pulled up the boxers with a jerk. She quickly donned her panties and covered herself with her blouse. 

“Did, did your father do that to you?” she asked as she shimmied into her capris.

“You do not get to throw me out in one breath, and question me in the next.” Loki snapped as he zipped up the pants. 

He pulled the undershirt over his head. He was irritated to say the least. Getting cut off twice in one day didn’t improve his temper and he was more than happy to share the misery. 

“I’m sorry.” She said, and was angry that she was apologizing for her fear.

“Don’t be.” Loki said without turning around. “One less thing to regret when you get back to LA.” The bitterness was plain in his voice.

He finished buttoning his shirt and tucked it into to his pants. “I’ll show myself out.” 

Loki picked up the jacket, stepped into the deck shoes and left. He only just refrained from slamming the door. Signy breathed a sigh of relief as he went. She felt like she'd dodged a particularly nasty bullet. She locked the door behind him.

The ride down in the elevator did nothing to cool Loki's anger and he was tempted to just go back to the hotel. But that would be conceding the night to En and he wasn’t ready to do that just yet. He walked the few blocks to the next club and headed inside.

******

Tim’s secrets ran out like water from a breached dam. How he had first hacked into the computer to cover up stealing drugs to gain cash, in order to impress a girl with little interest in him. His increasing fear of getting caught by either his boss or the cops or the dealers who were now pressuring him for regular deliveries. His mounting debts as his hours were cut because his thefts were cutting into the operating costs of the pharmacy and his boss was trying to find out why their customers were complaining of the higher prices and leaving in droves. How finding the prescription and realizing the mix of steroids and painkillers and other more esoteric ingredients was not a legitimate medicine but a performance boosting concoction. The fact that it was going to a fight manager’s stable in massive quantities presented a chance to get free of the mess he’d got himself into and maybe make enough to finally get the girl’s attention.

En sighed at the pathetic tale. If only the kid had stuck to stealing and selling drugs. En wouldn’t have let it continue, but such things were best discouraged with a couple of broken legs and a relocation out of his territory. Criminal behavior, especially the amateur kind, attracted the wrong kind of attention. However as he explained to the whimpering man, and so much whimpering over a few broken fingers and a dislocated shoulder. Loki would have stood this much better, En thought, fighting and spitting in his eye the whole time. This situation was, well, it was just sad. Sad and pointless and a real waste of his time. But necessary, as he said,

“Your little blackmail scheme was so disrespectful, Honey. You didn’t respect the doctor-patient privilege thing and you didn’t respect me. Thinking I would let you get away with threatening me? You have such a poor opinion of me Toddy.”

En got up and stepped behind the man and into the open chute. He slipped on a pair of latex gloves and placed one hand on top of Tim’s head. 

“I let you disrespect me Baby, and people might think I’m getting soft. Don’t take this personal Mr. Carlo, it’s just in this business, well, reputation is everything."

There was a soft “snick” and En’s other hand made a swift movement. The sobbing turned to a bubbling gurgle. The chute shook and there was a loud rattle of chains that ended abruptly. Red ran across the concrete and swirled down the floor drain. En stepped back with a look of distaste to avoid the spreading liquid, wrinkling his nose at the stench of emptied bowels and bladder. He peeled off his gloves and walked out the door, leaving Joshua to cleanup.

******

Loki staggered from the casino as the sky greyed in predawn. He was drunk on his ass and uncaring. He’d lost the hat somewhere on his nightly jaunt and the jacket showed the result of his clumsy drinking. Loki had been unable to shake his irritation and those whom his sullen expression hadn’t scared away, felt the bite of his acid tongue. He finally managed to wave down a cab and give the hotel’s name. Forgotten was his elaborate plan to sneak back into the penthouse and he wove across the lobby and towards the dining room only to realized it had closed hours before. He was reduced to hammering on the ‘employees only’ door till the old security guy opened it, read down a list of who was allowed into the back and finally called the night manager to confirm Loki’s identity because he didn’t know what a student visa was. It didn’t help that Loki had first given the guy his real name and only remembered when he pulled his ID that it was in the name of Lukas Wulf and not Loki Odinsson. A second phone call, to he hoped not En, and Loki was allowed to get in the damn elevator and ride up to the penthouse. 

Loki dropped the clothes on the way to the bathroom. A warm shower and brushing his teeth didn’t sober him up any but at least he no longer felt like he’d crawled around in a sewer. A couple of aspirins and his threatened headache retreated for the time being. He thought about picking up the clothes but didn’t really give a damn. It wasn’t like his escapade was going to go unnoticed after his botched return. Instead he flipped off the lights, added the damp towel to the mess and went to bed. He lay down, kicked the fur coverlet onto the floor and stretched out on top of the sheets.

Loki thought of how En would react when he saw the mess he’d made of his clothes. He’d undoubtedly be pissed. Loki could picture how his eyes would go cold and narrow, how his mouth would become a thin line, how he would raise his chin to look down his long nose. Loki’s hand drifted to his cock and he stroked the hardening length. This felt good. He reached for the lube, slathered his palm and returned to his imagining. Now it felt even better. He stroked for a few minutes picturing En’s face, the low tone of his voice as he expressed his disappointment in Loki. His cock twitched in his hand and he rubbed his other hand over his ass feeling the healing but still tender bruises. En would beat him, for sure, maybe on his ass again. Or across his belly, as he’d done on their second day. Loki stroked faster thinking of how En might punish him. Or maybe he’d be really angry, lose some of that cool composure, and use that lean hard muscle against him. Loki was moaning, his eyes closed, thrusting into his hand. He cupped his balls with his other hand and tugged gently. He could feel En enraged, throwing him to the floor, grabbing his wrist, twisting his arm, hard, harder, till the bone gave way with a sharp crack and pain and nausea flooded cold through his body. Loki cried out as he came, shaking and cold and sick with memory and pleasure. 

The sensations shivered through him and he felt like he was falling and rising and spinning. He was lost and alone in the rocking darkness. He made it to the side of the bed before his stomach emptied in racking spasms. He panted, laying on his belly, his head hanging off the side of the bed till the nausea stopped. He wiped his mouth on the edge of the sheet, rolled over to the other side of the bed and pulled the coverlet off the floor. He pulled it over his freezing body and curled in a ball, crying and trembling till he eventually passed out.

******

While Joshua cleaned up the mess in the barn and loaded the remains into the SUV, En changed out of the clothes he’d arrived in and back into the suit. Those clothes, and the gloves, booties and hair net were carefully packed into the now empty buckets, stinking of bleach. En Followed Joshua back out onto the highway and up a second narrow road that climbed into the hills. The SUV was soaked in gasoline and left with a timed flare. Joshua and En were back on the highway and headed toward Los Angeles before the car started to burn. The car was found the next afternoon by a family of coyotes attracted by the smell of burnt meat.

At three in the morning the realty office delivered the finished documents of the sale to the hotel where En waited as Brian. He woke the night manager, checked out and took the private plane to Las Vegas where he went up to the room Brian had in his name. There both men returned to their own identities and got a few hours’ sleep. En was his usual effusive self when they checked out at eight, making an impression on the day staff as he complained good naturedly about his loss at the gaming tables the night before, but still leaving them nice sized tips. That some tips were for the set aside for named night staff, whom Brian had briefed him on, would ensure they would remember his stay. 

Their return trips were uneventful. En took a commercial flight to Reno and Brian rode the private plane back to Tahoe. En reflected on his night during the hour long drive, the air warm enough that he had the top down to enjoy the pleasant weather. The San Francisco problem was acceptably solved and Joshua would speak to the pharmacist about his computer security and better screening for his next assistant. The guy was a family man and a simple reminder would do wonders. En was in good spirits and was looking forward to a relaxing afternoon with Loki, trying out the new toys. Right up until the moment he stepped out of the private elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that wasn't very nice.  
> Poor Mr. Carlo just made some poor decisions. And Loki, well he's quite the mess. Too bad he screwed the pooch with Sigyn, she was nice girl, even if she did have an aversion to snakes. 
> 
> A bit of a cliffhanger, but hey at least there were lots of words this chapter. And even some porn, though admittedly a bit abortive and definitely not pleasant, no not at all. 
> 
> Comments always welcome. They make me write.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for self harm.  
> Thor hunts for Loki. Things don't go as planned.

Getting out of Asgard without Odin knowing that he had a lead on Loki was the first difficulty of their trip. Thor was sure that if his father knew what he was doing he'd have assigned the job to a private detective agency or worse yet have contacted the U.S.'s immigration bureau or Department Homeland Security. He’d managed to wrangle a couple of weeks away on the premise of needing a vacation. Odin had noticed his hard work and the obvious strain that taking up his duties had caused and approved the trip. Thor enlisted Fandral into helping him, as his friend was the one who had found the video in the first place and his internet skills far surpassed Thor’s. Also, of all his friends, Fandral was the one closest to Loki, seeming to enjoy his company for his own sake rather than simply tolerating him because he was Thor’s brother.

Fandral was able to contact the poster of the video to find out that Loki had been performing in San Francisco a few days ago. He called ahead and hired a local PI to dig up any information on his whereabouts, knowing a local man would get farther and faster than they would. The long flights were exhausting and Fandral disliked the rules that kept him from getting updates from the detective while they were in the air. By the time they reached San Francisco the detective had a thin packet of information to deliver to their hotel. 

Thor perused the report. It contained very little information on Loki and that entirely gleaned from the other street buskers. He’d been reclusive, not forming friendships and using the name Lukas. Loki had worked the park since early spring. He’d been mugged once and disappeared for a few days, but returned and took up his old spot after a slight altercation. He hadn’t worked nights since and the Sunday evening performance was a surprise. The big black guy watching his money was a mystery to them, but Loki had also attracted the attention of another man. From the description the PI had been able to get a picture and confirm him as En Dwi Gast, a local fight promoter and the dreadlocked man as Joshua Montgomery, who worked for him as a bodyguard and odd job man. 

The rest of the report was about this En Dwi Gast. Thor scratched his head at the man’s name. Apparently En Dwi was his first name, but he used the shortened form of En. He was a former bare knuckle fighter who’d been intelligent enough to stay away from the pervasive drug and crime culture to start his own gym. He ran mostly boxers but still held the occasional bare knuckle fights. He was branching out to real estate and had recently purchased and refurbished a small hotel and casino at Lake Tahoe that hosted a magic show. The detective had included that there were rumors of criminal behavior that surrounded the man, but no charges had ever been brought. He commented that such rumors were common with a successful man in this business, especially when he had Mr. Gast’s reputation as a ruthless businessman. Included in the report was his address in San Francisco, that of the hotel in Tahoe and an address in Las Vegas. Thor was eager to get started but Fandral counseled him on writing until the next morning. They were both tired, suffering from jet lag and would be better for some sleep. Thor reluctantly agreed. One more night wouldn’t make any difference. 

Thor sighed, it looked like Loki had found a legitimate job even if it was just doing silly tricks for the entertainment of a bunch of bored tourists. His brother had always shown interest in legerdemain before the clinic. That he had revived his hobby was a good sign he was healing from his time there. If Thor didn’t need his help running Asgard, he’d be tempted to let Loki stay here for a while. But their responsibility to their people came before any personal desires. When Loki heard what was going on back home he’d come around and give up his childish dreams. Thor was certain of that. This En would be disappointed to lose him, but Thor was sure he’d see reason. After all there were hundreds of street performers here in San Francisco and Loki could easily be replaced. He fell asleep thinking comforting thoughts of their triumphant return to Asgard.

The address was to a three story house situated on a dead end cove and overlooking the city. Thor approved of the clean design of the steel and concrete building and its meticulously groomed topiaries. The rest of the homes, through differing in style were of the same high caliber. If Loki insisted on running away, at least this time he’d landed on his feet. The place was a far cry from the disreputable drug dens Thor had tracked his brother through on his last escapade. Fandral, the more cautious of the two had recommended that they scout the area, or at least wait till a little later than dawn before they approached the house. Thor overruled him and parked on the street before striding up to the front door. He had nothing to hide and he’d waited long enough to see his brother.

Thor pounded on the door, waited a moment and pounded again. He was lifting his hand for the third time when the door opened. A short muscular woman in gym clothes with a towel draped over one shoulder looked up at him. Her face would have been attractive had it not bore a look of disdain. 

“I am Thor Odinsson and I wish to speak with my brother Loki. I have been informed he is working for Mr. Gast.”

“Mr. Gast employs a lot of people,” She said.

“Loki is a about my height, but slimmer and has black hair.” Thor added.

“It’s been dyed green,” Fandral elaborated, “and he has several facial piercings. He’s been working as a street magician.”

The woman’s face brightened. 

“You mean Mr. Gast’s latest boy toy. The one with the snake tattoo by his dick.” She said with a smirk. “You could have started with that and saved a lot of time.” 

Thor’s hands clenched into fists, and his face flushed red. He had no idea what tattoo she was talking about, but that it implied she’d seen Loki naked in such disparaging words made him furious. Had she been a man his fists would have flattened that mocking smile off her face.

“Have a care woman, it is about my brother that you speak.” Thor rumbled. “Go and fetch him and I will overlook your insolence.”

Her expression widened into a grin. Topaz recognized the type. Storm he might, but he’d never lift a hand to her because she was one of the ‘weaker sex.’ She could have him on the ground and spitting teeth before he knew what hit him.

“He’s not here. Mr. Gast had him sent to Lake Tahoe to stay with him at the Lakeside hotel. Try the penthouse, it's where he usually keeps his whores.” 

She started to close the door and paused, considering.

“Not that you could get in. The only possible access to its elevator is through the kitchens.”

She slammed the door the rest of the way closed in Thor’s stunned and angry face. That ought to put the cat among the pigeons, Topaz thought. That Loki was trouble and she'd seen the way En had looked at him. En was sharp, usually too sharp to fall for a gold digger, but it had happened before. Ten years before, but Topaz remembered all the trouble the girl had caused, before En realized his mistake. Topaz had had to arrange for the little bitch to be caught with one of his rivals before En had come to his senses and gotten rid of her. This interfering brother looked the type to cause En all kinds of annoyance. That Loki whore would be out on his skinny little ass in no time. Topaz returned to the basement gym to finish her workout, confident in a job well done. 

Thor stood shaking in rage. To be spoken to in such a manner by a mere servant. To have her say those terrible things about Loki. He was wrong about this Gast. The man was clearly another monster taking advantage of Thor’s lost little brother. He almost decked Fandral when his friend put a hand on his shoulder to draw him away. He sent his fist crashing into the door frame instead, denting the metal and tearing the skin from his knuckles.

“Come away Thor.” Fandral said, “This won’t help Loki. At least we now know where he is residing.” 

He patted Thor on the back as they walked to the car.

“Perhaps the situation is not as bad as she tried to paint it. Clearly the lady has little love for your brother.”

Thor nodded miserably and allowed Fandral to guide him to the passenger side and take the keys. He whipped the blood from his knuckles with a handful of napkins while Fandral busied himself with his phone. Fandral finished what he was doing, started the car and drove away.  
Thor wrestled with his anger and finally got it under control enough to notice they were not heading back to the hotel. 

“Where are we going?”

“The airport.” Fandral answered. “Then on to Lake Tahoe. If we must confront Mr. Gast in order to retrieve Loki, then we shall. If lady luck is with us, we will be on a plane and flying back to Asgard before supper time.”

Thor nodded, hoping Fandral’s optimistic prophecy was right. He doubted it was. Nothing was ever easy when it came to Loki.

Fandral had booked them on a flight before he drove them away from En’s home and then just enough time to pass through security and board their flight. From there things slowed down. There was a delay as their plane had to be rechecked for a minor maintenance issue. Then another delay as they had missed their take off window. Thor was agitated and uncomfortable. He'd never flown coach before and the seat was too small for his muscular bulk. Worse yet Fandral was several rows away from him and there was no chance to plan their strategy. The car rental situation was no better. Without reservations they had to take what was on hand. Thor wondered how normal sized people managed to fit into the tiny two door that had seen better days. He could only imagine Loki’s complaining when he’d be forced to make the one hour ride to Reno in the back seat.

Thor opted again for the direct approach. What little patience he had was eroded away by the flight and the drive and the wicked words of Gast’s servant. This time he wasn’t going to waste any words getting to his brother. Fandral parked the car close to an exit so they could make a quick departure and followed at Thor's heels as he entered the lobby, strode through the casino and into the restaurant. Thor stepped around some people waiting in line and scanned the room looking for the kitchen entrance. He spotted it and hurried across the restaurant brushing past an approaching hostess. Fandral shoved a handful of bills at her with a quick, “Joining Friends.” The woman took the cash and turned to the next patrons in line. He caught up with Thor just as he pushed through the double swinging doors. A scene of minor chaos greeted them. Waiters hurried down the short corridor with orders and and returned with food. A bus boy almost collided with Thor as he carried a tray loaded with dirty dishes into the scullery. Down a side hallway, two women with cleaning supplies were engaged in a heated exchange with a harried middle aged man on a cell phone, while a security guard looked on. Thor noted the gun on the pudgy man’s hip. Behind them a small elevator stood open. Thor heard “crazy drunk” from the women and “Loki” from the man on the phone, who was looking at them with a growing frown.

Thor moved fast, grabbing the guard’s arms before he could turn and wrenching them behind his back. Fandral followed his lead and snatched the gun from the man’s holster and pointed at the other three. 

“Be quiet and no one will get hurt.” Thor said in a low voice. 

The manager, who was already having a bad day, took one look at Thor’s angry blue eyes and decided he was not paid enough to attempt to stop a robbery. He glanced toward the door marked ‘office’ without thinking. Thor followed his look and said, “Open it.”

Thor hustled them inside and shut the door behind them. Fandral gathered their cell phones and the guard’s radio, and Thor secured the man with his own handcuffs to the heavy desk. The guards supply of zip ties ensured the others were going nowhere and the manager’s shirt was sacrificed for gags. Much to the manager’s surprise the two robbers exited the room without asking about the safe. The lock clicked behind them.

Thor and Fandral walked the few steps to the elevator and once inside Thor pushed the button for the penthouse. Fandral rocked on his heels beside him, the radio in one hand and the gun in the other, his pockets stuffed with cell phones. 

“That went fairly well all things considered.” Fandral said. “Do you think they will be kind enough to give us adjoining prison cells?” 

“We’re not going to prison.” Thor said. “We’ll get Loki and be on a plane before they are discovered. If we are caught we can always say that we were rescuing him from kidnappers.”

“As long as your brother sees fit to affirm your story.” Fandral said, thinking about the long drive to Reno and how many hours they would be flying in American airspace. 

“Of course he’ll back up my story, I’m his brother. He won’t let us go to prison.” Thor grumbled. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

Fandral shut his mouth. Thor’s impulsive nature was well known to him, especially if he thought he was in the right. But he was blind when it came to his brother. That Loki was here of his own accord spoke volumes to Fandral. Convincing him to leave might not be as easy as Thor presumed.

The elevator opened and Thor was hit with the stench of vomit, and the sight of his brother seated on the edge of an enormous bed, a cigarette in one hand and wearing a too short robe that fell open over his thighs. But it wasn’t the sight of Loki’s nakedness, or the revelation of a tattoo he didn’t know his brother possessed, that sent him barreling across the room.

It was the fact that Loki was calmly pressing the lit cigarette into the back of his hand, three red circular wounds a testament to his progress.

******

Brian looked forward to a quiet afternoon, but as soon as the plane touched down and his cell phone pinged with a message. He checked his voicemail and heard the manager’s complaint. The cleaning staff had reported the penthouse was a mess and a drunken Loki had thrown an ashtray at them when they had tried to enter. Brian attempted to call back, annoyed that the manager hadn’t handled the situation on his own. The call went straight to voicemail and Brian vowed to fire the man as soon as he squared away the penthouse situation. He’d already had to deal with the Loki problem the night before and was tempted to bow out and let him take the flack for his latest bullshit. Brian didn’t, because dealing with an upset En was not how he wanted to spend the next few days. 

He drove back to the hotel and hoped that he’d have enough time to deal with the problem before En showed up. It was always a toss up who would arrive first. The commercial jets were faster than the Cessna, but the drive from Reno took that advantage away. He drove the short distance back to the hotel and vowed to make Loki pay for his trouble during the upcoming training sessions. Provided of course the man was still here after today. 

Brian crossed the lunch crowded restaurant and proceed toward the private elevator. He paused as he entered the short corridor. Something was wrong. A mop and bucket and a vacuum cleaner sat unattended outside the elevator. The cleaning staff never left their tools blocking a hallway. Brian pulled his gun and swept the short hallway. A muffled thumping came from inside the office, Brian checked the door, took out his master key and opened the room, entering gun first. 

******

Fandral had followed Thor into the room and he stood aghast at the sight of Loki.

Thor swept the cigarette from his brother’s hand with an agitated cry of, “Loki! No!”

Loki looked up at him with red rimmed and blurry eyes. Tear tracks marked his face and his lower lip was bloody from his own teeth. 

“Thor?” He asked confused.

Then his face twisted with rage. “What the fuck are you doing here? Get out!” He surged to his feet, swaying. “Get out before you ruin everything!”

Thor was taken aback by Loki’s fury and he raised his hands attempting to placate him. “Easy brother, its alright. I’ve come to take you home.” 

“I don’t want to go back! That's not my home anymore!” Loki shouted. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”

“Thor” Fandral said over the creaking of the descending elevator, “we are going to have company.”

“Loki, you’re not well. Come with us and we’ll get you the help you need to get better.” Thor said.

“Like Odin did?” Loki snarled and launched himself at Thor, his fists striking Thor's chest and face in an uncoordinated frenzy.

“I hate you! I hate you! You left me there!” Loki screamed. “You said you’d always protect me but you lied!”

“Loki calm down!” Thor bellowed as he tried to subdue his brother. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

He grasped Loki’s wrists only to take a knee to the groin.

“Fandral,” Thor gasped, “a little help here.” 

Fandral dropped the radio, shoved the gun in his bulging pockets and entered the struggle. He managed to grab Loki’s flailing legs and wrapped his arms around his knees. That this brought his face inches from Loki’s half covered ass was not lost on him. That said ass was covered in the marks of a beating only complicated matters for Fandral.

******

Brian holstered the gun and entered the office where the security guard was repeated slamming his shoulders against the desk in an effort to draw attention. Brian stepped around the desk ignoring the other three. It took precious minutes to untie the makeshift gag from the man’s mouth.

“Report.” Brian said.

It was to his credit that the man neither offered excuses nor begged to be untied, instead he said,

“Two men, blonde, one big guy built like a linebacker bearded, the other smaller with a goatee and mustache. Small guy took my gun. I think they headed to the penthouse. Heard the elevator after they left. They didn’t touch the safe.” 

This last was shouted as Brian was already running out of the room. He raced to the elevator but he was already too late, the car was trundling upward. Brian pulled out his cell and prayed that En had for once, neglected to turn his cell off when he headed up to the penthouse. The cheery, “This is En Dwi Gast and I’m not answering my phone right now so, uh, don’t bother leaving a message.” left Brian cold.

******

As Fandral tried to hold onto a struggling Loki the gun was knocked out of his pocket and it bounced across the floor. Loki saw it and terror gave him a surge of adrenaline. If either of these two fools pointed a gun at En they’d be dead before they could pull the trigger. The rush of fear cleared his mind and he started fighting the way he’d been trained. 

He sunk his teeth into one of Thor's thumbs biting hard enough to crack bone. He twisted his wrist out of the weaken grip and punched Thor not in his face, or chest, but hard in his already bruised balls. Thor collapsed to his knees and Loki grabbed his other thumb and bent it backwards till his hand was free. He turned in Fandral’s grasp until he was facing the handsome man and kicked free of his hold. He grabbed Fandral’s ears and slammed his face down on his upraised knee, feeling the crack of bone and the sudden spurt of blood across his leg. Loki rolled over and snatched the gun from Thor’s reaching fingers, scooting back from his brother and leveling the gun at his face. He flicked the safety off as Thor started forward.

“I will shoot you Thor.” Loki said in a desperate wavering voice that froze Thor in place.

The elevator opened him and Loki didn’t move, staring into Thor’s unbelieving eyes, his hands holding the gun trembling, his hammering heart, tears blurring his vision. Fandral sat up clutching his nose, blood dripping down his chin. Loki heard soft footsteps behind him.

En asked, “What cha been up to Kitten?” 

En stopped behind Loki, reached down and took the gun from his shaking hands.

“Now is that anyway to treat family, Honey?”

Loki leaned back and tilted his head so he could see En’s face. The older man's gaze never wavered from Thor and his gun didn’t move from pointing at his chest. En flicked the safety back on the guard’s gun and pocketed it.

“They tried to kidnap me En.” Loki wailed. “They tried to take me away from you.”

En took Loki’s reaching arm and pulled him to his feet. He snaked his arm around Loki’s waist and snugged him into his side. Loki leaned heavily against him as the adrenaline wore off and the remains of the alcohol still in his system took effect.

“That’s not going to happen Loki, you’re mine. You don’t go anywhere, unless I want you there. Remember, Baby, I protect my own.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is another fine mess you've gotten yourself into. The fuck up brothers, its how you can tell they are related.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst and really nasty head games. Family issues. Porn and angst and head games. It's all about learning lessons.

“You two. On the couch.” En said.

He kept the gun trained on Thor as the would be rescuers followed his directions. He slipped his arm from Loki’s waist and gave him a pat on the butt.

“Baby open the windows, we need some fresh air in here… then put on some pants. What did I tell you about how we dress when we have company?”

“Not so casual.” Loki said shooting En an irritated look.

The older man smiled and plainly ogled Loki’s ass when the robe rode up, as he stretched to reach the cranks and opened the upper windows. Thor made a disgusted sound and En grinned. He pulled his cell from his jacket and thumbed it on. Immediately it buzzed. He answered while never taking his eyes from the captives.

“Brian? Yeah, I got things covered for now. Everything OK Down stairs? Good...I need you to do something for me…” En spoke sotto voce into the cell while Thor looked plaintively at his brother.

“Loki,” Thor said. “Why are you doing this? Why are you siding with that..that…

“Pervert?” Loki hissed.

En stopped talking on the phone to say “Quiet Blondie, you’ve upset your brother enough. He finished the call and tucked the phone back in his jacket.

The warm air wafted in clearing some of the smell. Loki was zipping up the pants when the elevator opened again and Brian stepped out, gun drawn. He walked across the room, taking up a position by the windows, never crossing En’s line of fire and keeping his gun trained on Thor as the obviously more dangerous of the pair.

“Lolo, Brian brought up some supplies for you to clean up your little mess… so Honey, get busy.”

Loki paused eyeing the scrub brush and soap filled bucket. He frowned, En was deliberately trying to humiliate him.

“Chop! Chop! Baby.” En said. 

To Thor’s surprise Loki gave Gast a dirty look, knelt on the floor, and began scrubbing at the stain. Thor stared at his notoriously proud brother doing the work of a menial with only a token gesture of protest.

En holstered his weapon, pulled a chair in front of the couch and sat down, steepling his fingers under his chin and leaning forward with a smile.

“Well now,” En said in a deceptively friendly tone. “What am I to do with you two boys?”

He ran his eyes lasciviously over Thor’s bulging biceps and broad chest.  
Thor shifted on the couch and scowled at him. En smirked.

“You burst into my place, you attack my employees, trespass into my home and try to abduct my friend. That was… was not a nice thing to do...not nice at all, was it?”

“I was not abducting him!” Thor said, ignoring the other charges. I came here to bring him home, to take him back to his family where he belongs.”

“Family?” Loki snarled. “What family? He’s not my father!”

“Am I not your brother?” Thor asked, shocked and hurt that Loki would air family secrets. In front of a stranger.

“Half-brother!” Loki replied, anger and alcohol clouding his judgement.

“Boys, boys,” En said. “How ‘bout we settle this little matter civilly? Hmmm? Kitten. You want to go back to Ass-burg with big bro?”

“Asgard!” Thor corrected.

“No!” Loki said, looking at Thor with a matching scowl.

“There, you see Blondie? Lolo doesn’t want to go with you.”

“He has no choice. He is needed. Asgard is in danger of being invaded and it is his duty to return.”

“My duty?” Loki laughed. “You are willing to travel halfway around the world to retrieve me when you need my help, but you didn’t lift a hand when I needed you. You left me to rot Thor.”

“Loki, I asked father to take you out of there, to let me visit you and he forbad it.”

“It’s amazing how dutiful you are in your obedience when it concerns my well being, but how easily you disregard his wishes when you want to pursue your own past times.”

En watched the brothers argue with an amused smile on his face.

“I didn’t know what was going on in there.” Thor said.

“You didn’t want to know! You couldn’t be bothered to find out!” Loki snarled.

“Father said it would cure you!” Thor yelled back.

“Cure me? There wasn’t anything wrong with me until he sent me there! I’m queer Thor. You can’t ‘cure’ that.”

Thor winced. “Loki, you’ve dated girls before, you could always go back…”

Loki laughed again and it was a sneering ugly sound. “But I like cock, Thor.” Loki’s voice was low and sultry, “I like in my mouth and up my ass and there is nothing you can do that will ever change that.”

“Now Kitten, no need to be crude.” En said. “As entertaining and enlightening as this little family squabble is… You need to focus on your work. You haven’t earned near enough to replace the carpeting.”

Loki looked at En, opened his mouth to protest, saw the frost in En’s expression and returned to scrubbing the vomit out of the carpet.

“He’s a prince.” Thor protested. “You can’t make him do the work of a servant!”

“I believe I just did, Blondie. I have a rule, you make a mess, you clean it up. Which brings me back to you and Errol Flynn. You made quite a mess yourself. And it’s going to cost time me time and money to clean it up.”

“I’ll pay for any damages.”

“Now Honey, you just don’t understand. I don’t want your daddy’s money. I believe… and you really need to get this into your pretty head… I believe people should pay their own debts, and sometimes… well sometimes money… it’s just not enough.” 

En motioned toward Loki who was industriously wringing out a rag into the bucket. “Little brother, he needs to know how much trouble his little binge caused. Is it fair that my cleaning staff should pay for his… his misbehavior?”

En turned to smile at Loki. “He has a lot of lessons he’ll be leaning because of last night.” En purred, Loki shivered and felt a tightening in his groin even as his face flushed in shame. En flouting his power over Loki in front of his brother, made Loki want to throw the bucket of filthy water in his face.

“But you boys...” En continued, “You frightened my people… made them fear for their lives. So you see the problem, don’t you? What will you have to do so you learn… learn to not make that mistake again? I mean...is there even a way to teach that?”

He looked over at Brian who shrugged.

Loki’s blood ran cold. En’s way of teaching was ruthless, but made a twisted kind of logic. 

“Maybe Blondie, you need to know what that feels like.”

“I’m not afraid of a degenerate creature like you!” Thor growled.

“Shut up Thor! Shut up!” Loki thought desperately, staring hard at Thor as if he could send his thoughts into that thick skull.

“Oh did you hear that Brian?” En said sounding way too cheerful for Loki’s state of mind. “He called me a degenerate creature. Now that’s just too cute.”

Loki suddenly spoke up and the fear in his voice cut through Thor’s anger. “Don’t kill him En! Please don’t!”

“Shut up Kitten, En said,” getting up and walking over to stand beside Loki who was still kneeling on the floor, scrub brush in hand. “I’m not going to kill _him._ ”

Fandral jerked his head up at the emphasis. Brian stepped behind the couch, his gun now pointed at Fandral.

En pulled out the guard’s gun, checked it and flipped off the safety. “You get to choose Blondie, who will it be? Errol Flynn or little bro?” He pointed the gun at Loki’s head. “Which one gets to live?”

“En!” Loki cried. The terror on his face made it plain to Thor that Loki believed the mad man’s words. 

“Sorry Baby, he needs to pay. It’s how things are.” En saw Thor tense and added. “Ah! Ah! Ah! Don’t try the sacrifice play or they’ll both die and not easy.”

Thor leaned forward, his fists clenched. “That’s murder. You’ll never get away with it.” He said, trying to buy time.

“You broke into my room and shot your brother is a botched kidnapping attempt. My bodyguard was forced to shoot your friend in self-defense.” En said with a smile. “Because, Blondie, that’s what’s gonna happen here in one minute if you don’t choose. Tick-Tock you’re on the clock.”

Loki was frozen and silent staring at En, Fandral looked at Thor and swallowed.

“Fifty seconds… Forty seconds…”

“You Monster!” Thor shouted.

“Thirty seconds…”

“Choose Loki, Thor! Don’t let your brother die!” Fandral pleaded.

“Twenty seconds… Ten seconds…”

“I can’t...” Thor howled in anguish. 

“Say goodbye Loki.” En said.

“Loki! I choose Loki!” Thor said.

“Too late!” En said. “Kill him Brian.”

Loki threw the brush and leapt at him just as the older man pulled the trigger. There was an empty “click”. En sidestepped Loki’s attack, sending him to the floor with a hard slap to his jaw.

Fandral meanwhile twisted toward Brian rising from the couch only to hear him calmly say. “You’re dead.” 

Thor surged to his feet and froze when En said. “Unless you want that to happen for real, I suggest you sit back down.” Fandral sank onto the couch pale and shaking. Loki was sitting up rubbing his jaw, his expression unreadable. Thor took several deep breaths, and finally sat when Fandral tugged his pants leg.

“There!” En said brightly. “That’s what I call a successful lesson. Now that you know how it feels there’ll be no more threatening my staff, huh?” He tilted his head at Thor. “I’m waiting for an answer here Blondie.” 

Thor mumbled something.

“Louder, Honey I didn’t quite hear you.”

“I won’t threaten your employees again.” Thor said, his face dark with suppressed rage.

“Good. Good, we’ll work on the rest of things later. I need to uh… speak… with your little bro privately.”

He turned to his bodyguard. “Get the rest of security up here and take our guests downstairs and make them comfortable. Explain the situation for me, so they know exactly where they stand. Oh and Brian, get Strange in here to see to Errol’s nose. I think my Kitten broke it.”

En stood by Loki and petted his hair, until two armed guards arrived and they and Brian took Thor and Fandral into the elevator. Loki sat unmoving, watching them depart.

“Come on Baby, let’s get you cleaned up.” En said. 

Loki stood up raised his chin and asked. “Why? So I will make a pretty corpse?”

“Lolo, you didn’t really think I’d kill you…just to…. to make a point to you brother, did you?”

Loki folded his arms across his chest. “What reason, pray tell, do I have to think differently?”

“I didn’t buy you all those lovely toys just to leave them in the closet Kitten.” En said with a smile, heading toward the bathroom. The elevator opened again and three men with cleaning equipment stepped out. “So either come with me or stay here and help put the room to rights. Your choice, Lolo.”

Loki huffed and stalked into the bathroom behind En but the effect wasn’t as impressive as he would have liked. He swayed when he walked, the results of last night’s drinking, too few hours of sleep and a building hang over hitting all at once. He stood, cold and silent while En undressed him. En ignored Loki’s attitude and ran his hand over his bottom. 

“You look so pretty when you’re angry Kitten, with your little claws out.”

He pulled the shaving mirror down and angled it so Loki could see his back reflected. 

“You like this baby? Like my marks on your skin?” En said dragging his fingers over the fading bruises.

Loki shivered, he was feeling weaker and shakier by the moment and had to admit to himself that yes, he did like the marks.

“Un huh.” He finally said and leaned into the touch. “En…You won’t, won’t really harm Thor will you? He’s a self-absorbed ass and a complete idiot but he’s still my brother.”

“It all depends on how well he cooperates. Brian will make it clear.” At Loki’s still distressed look En said. “I won’t kill him or your admirer Baby. Where is the fun in that?”

Loki let the admirer comment go and nuzzled En’s throat.

“There’s my Lolo.” En said and gave him a sharp swat on his butt. “Into the shower Honey, I want you cleaned up. Everywhere.”

En joined him in the shower and scrubbed Loki down. Loki tried to return the favor and had his hands slapped away. Loki found the long handled bath brush, rougher on his skin then he liked. When En pressed him against the wall and used a wand attachment to clean him out inside, he didn’t know whether to be aroused at the sensation or embarrassed at its inevitable result. The fact that En was so business like about the whole thing was a definite turn on. Loki’s cock was standing tall as they stepped out of the shower, even though his head was starting to pound.

“So eager... I love that about you.” En said as he dried off and pulled on his long gold and blue bathrobe.

He took Loki by the wrist and pulled him out into the room. Luckily the cleaners had gone and the room was spotless and smelled only of soap and fresh air. The bed was stripped and remade and the stain on the floor gone, with only a slightly damp spot in its place. He walked Loki to the bar and bent him over it. “Stay put Honey.” 

En fetched the toy bag and picked up Loki’s collar from where he’d left it on the bedside table. Loki fastened it around his neck, but he shivered, sweat breaking across his skin. En noticed.

“Not feeling too good, Lolo? A little hung over? Wanna put this off till later?”

Loki nodded and then regretted it, as his head suddenly felt like it was going to roll right off.

En cupped his chin looked into his eyes and said coldly. “Too bad. You’ll know not to drink so much next time, huh?”

“Fuck you.” Loki said and jerked his head away from En’s hand.

“Its not about what you want Honey, it’s about what you need.” En said, and handed Loki a blind fold.

Loki narrowed his eyes. En gazed at him calmly. Loki sighed and put on the blind fold. At least it cut out the light and that helped. He laid his head on the cold black marble top and that helped even more. The cuffs slipped soft but firm around his wrists. His arms where stretched out across the bar top and secured to towel racks on either side. En pushed his knees wide and his ankles were placed in the shackles and locked to the foot rail. He tried to move his feet back but they didn’t move. He could hear En moving around the bar and the sound of the ice fridge opening and closing. A pungent spicy scent, not unpleasant tickled his nose. En lifted his head by tugging his hair. A pill was placed into his Loki’s mouth and a cold glass was placed to his lips. Loki swallow the pill and drank. Cold tea, spicy with the taste of ginger and way too sweet, but his stomach settled by the time he’d finished.

“You should really…and I mean truly be grateful baby. That’s my aunt’s hangover recipe. Sweet tea with fresh ginger juice. What’s really nice Sugar…and you are gonna love this… Is what I do with the left overs.” 

Loki didn’t answer. It wasn’t a question and he was already feeling better. The headache if not going away had stopped growing and he no longer felt nauseous. Instead he felt hollow from two adrenaline surges in one hour, but even that shakiness was nice in a way. He was vulnerable and weak and En tightening the cuffs so he was flat onto the bar made him fell grounded. The soft pressure around his wrists suddenly reminded him of how Thor had bruised them during their fight. He entertained a wicked pleasure at the hope that his brother wasn’t being made too comfortable in his captivity.

“So Baby, does Errol Flynn have a thing for you? He was pretty quick to offer his life for yours.”

Loki sighed. He liked Fandral a bit. He’d always been decent to Loki, unlike Thor’s other friends. “No. Fandral, that’s just how he is. Coming to rescue of some fair maiden. Righting wrongs, that kind of thing.”

“Hmm.” Said En. He gave Loki’s ass a pat. “Open up.”

Before Loki could react, something small and hard and barely wet was pressed into his anus.

"Ah!" He said.

“We’ll give that some time to work and you can tell me all about your little adventure last night… Don’t leave out any juicy details.”

Loki related how he’d sneaked out. Between his drunken return and the security cameras it wouldn’t be a secret long and he was more than a little proud of his plan.

The little cold thing in his ass had lost its coolness to the point that he mostly forgot about it, until an increasing warmth spread in his anus. Now that was nice.

Loki told En about the clubs he danced in and some of the people who’d hit on him. He was reluctant to mention Sigyn, wanted to protect here from En. (Wanted to protect himself from the embarrassment.) Instead he spoke of drinking more and more until he lost track of time and the amount of alcohol he’d consumed and staggered home. The truth but not the whole truth.  
The feeling in his ass had become uncomfortable, more heat than warmth and he squirmed a bit.

“Sweetie, sweetie, sweetie, I said all the details…” En said and brought him back to his story again.

Loki told the same story hoping En would buy it upon repetition.

The heat was now a burn and he asked En to take the thing out.

“Tell me the truth, Baby and I will.”

“I can’t, it’s wrong. It’s dishonorable.” Loki panted, wiggling his ass and trying to get rid of the thing. It wouldn’t budge, it felt like it was glued in place. 

“Just the facts Lolo, I don’t need names. I want to know what got you so upset.”

“I met a girl and we went back to her hotel and made out. She saw my tattoo and got scared and threw me out. That’s all En! That’s why I got drunk! Please take it out now! It burns!”

Loki was biting back his whimpers, it felt like his hole was on fire.

“That’s not all.” En tapped the burns on the back of his hand. “What did you do that you had hurt yourself?”

Loki was panting, up on his toes straining against the restraints and trying to get away from what felt like a hot coal in his ass.

“I jerked off thinking about you hurting me.”

“Almost there Baby.” En said. “All of it. What are you so ashamed of?”

“I, I thought about you hurting me bad.” Loki said, his eyes tearing from the pain.

“Tell me Loki. Now!”

“You broke my arm. I pretended you broke my arm and it made me cum.” Loki sobbed.

“Oh, Kitten.” 

En’s hand was on his back and his fingers at his ass and the thin thing was pulled tugged free. For a moment the burn seared and Loki gasped, sure he’d been permanently damaged. But as En rubbed his back the burning pain turned to heat and then back to a pleasant throbbing warmth. He shivered as En brushed his thumb over Loki’s rim.

“What the hell was that?” Loki asked.

He didn’t want En to talk about what he’d confessed. 

“Ginger root, Baby, fresh and hot. Some people are more sensitive to it. You’re one of the lucky ones.”

Loki didn’t feel lucky, but the lingering warmth and increased sensitivity was decidedly nice. Perhaps even worth the temporary pain. A cool wetness was slathered over his hole and that was even better and Loki raised his butt to give better access. 

“Are all Asgardians blonde? I mean apart from you?”

A harmless enough question, Loki decided and answered honestly. 

“They run to big and blonde with good tans. A few redheads and the occasional one with light brown hair. The upper class does.” He amended.

Loki could hear the bar sink running as En washed his hands. It seem to take longer than necessary. 

“But not the lower class? Bet you stood out. Pale and black haired with those pretty green eyes. Bet they didn’t know what to do with you.”

“Not really.” An ambiguous enough answer, Loki thought.

Something warm was pressed against his anus. Loki though for a moment it might be En’s cock, but as it was pushed in it felt too small. Then his rim opened and closed around a wider ring. Loki moaned at the decadent pleasure that brought. Another short length and another wide ring and he said,

“Fuck that feels good!”

By the third ring he knew what it was. A long thin metal vibe with a series of wider segments down its length. He tried to remember how many but couldn’t focus on the question as En worked it deeper. Five was the answer. Or at least that was how many times his anus had opened around its thicker rings. It felt incredibly good in his sensitized asshole. En left it there, a warm heavy weight in his ass.

“I almost forgot,” En said. 

Loki felt En pull his hips back and a cock ring was tightened around the base of his jutting cock. He’d worn one before and the feeling was familiar. But then something else was placed against his groin. He’d worn a cock cage for the dominatrix but this was different. It was secured to his balls and the ring and a strap around his cock kept it suspended right in the middle of the cage. His cock didn’t touch the sides or end. He rocked his hips against the edge of the bar it pressed uncomfortably on his groin and balls. No way he was going to get any friction on his shaft wearing this thing.

En chucked. “Don’t want that guy trying to grab center stage.”

“You’re a bastard, En.” Loki growled.

His growl became a gasp of pleasure as En slowly pulled the toy from his ass.

“I think that’s your situation Sugar. Since Odin isn’t your father.”

Loki wanted to protest, but En was working the toy back inside his ass and giving a sweet tug every time Loki’s rim closed over the thicker rings. Whatever lube En was using was increasing the warmth again. 

“If Thor is still your brother, then Mama must have stepped out. And not with one of the hoity-toity cousins. Huh?”

“En stop it!” Loki said his throat tightening with grief. He could not, would not think of his beautiful, tragic, deceitful mother, while his cock was strapped into aching hardness and his asshole was thrumming with pleasure.

“Odin is a monster, En. He’s cold and cruel.”

“A real piece of work.” En agreed and seated the toy all the way up Loki’s ass.

“Oh Fuck!”

“I’m not blaming her.” En continued.

He touched a button on the toy and it started vibrating.

“Aaah! unnn!” Loki cried out.

En let go of the toy and stepped away. With his hand off the vibe Loki could feel the weight of it again. It was sending waves of pleasure through his body. The lube was warmer, not painfully hot like the ginger, but intensifying the sensations. His mind focused on the weight, the fullness of it in his rectum, shying away from En’s words. Sightless, bound, spread open like this all he wanted to do was feel. En forcing him to think about things he could not bear to dwell on was torture.

En rested one arm on Loki’s back and slowly eased the toy out, one ring at a time. Loki’s cock twitched every time his ass was opened wider.

“What I want to know,” En said, and gave Loki a kiss on his spine. “What I want to know is, who’s your daddy?”

“You are!" Loki cried with a ragged laugh.

“Brat!” En said and slapped Loki’s rump.

He chuckled, turned the vibe off and pulled it all the way out. Loki made a soft longing sound. En traced his slick rim with his thumb and pressed it inside. He gently pinched all the way around. Loki shivered. His asshole had never felt so sensitive before. En took his thumb out and Loki could hear the water running again and the sounds of En doing something. He wanted En to just shut up and fuck him or hurt him or anything but please stop asking him questions. The pungent scent of ginger suddenly increased and Loki couldn’t stop a whine. He wasn’t sure if it was of anticipation or fear. 

“So tell me about your brother.” En said in a cheery voice.

“Fuck! Can we not do this? Can you just fuck me?”

“No Baby.”

Loki felt that cold touch as En shoved another piece of ginger up his ass. It was longer and thicker and this time he didn’t leave it. Loki’s hole was soft and slick and open and En fucked the piece in and out, rubbing it in circles. In a few strokes and the warmth was already turning into heat.

“It must have been hard growing up with such a big, handsome brother. Daddy’s favorite and no wonder. Was he cruel to you when you were both boys? Got away with it too I should think.” 

“It wasn’t like that.” 

“No?” En asked. “He treated you well?”

The heat was turning to burn, but this time Loki liked it, knowing it wasn’t going to damage him. The pain felt good in a twisted way and the thrusting rhythm was sweet. He rocked his hips into the movement.

“How could I be jealous of the sun?” Loki asked. Weird as this was it was better than thinking of his parents. “He was perfect and golden and brave and strong and kind. He used to be so kind. I loved him. I wanted to be just like him.” 

“But you couldn’t, could you?” 

His hand was hard and rough, turning and twisting the ginger as he worked the burning juice into Loki’s inner walls.

“And then he betrayed your trust. You golden god had feet of clay. I can see why you hate him.”

En pulled out the ginger and Loki yelped as the burn flared hotter. It felt as if En held a flame to his asshole. En’s thumb was back rubbing the heat into his ass. It was too much and Loki slapped the top of the bar in over-stimulation.

“You need a safe word Lolo?”

“No. No I don’t. I don’t want one.” Because that would give him control, would make it that he wanted this crap done to him.

“It’s diamond Honey, say it.”

“No!” Loki snarled. “I don’t want a fucking safe word.”

“Say it Loki or we are done.”

Loki twisted against the restraints in frustration and finally spat out, “Diamond.”

“Good boy!” En said and patted his rump. He pushed his thumb back in, working the ginger juice into Loki’s throbbing asshole. “He betrayed you right? Left you in the clinic?”

“And the castle. After he dragged me back home the second time I ran away. He let Odin keep me in the castle and I couldn’t leave, I couldn’t step a foot outside. I only saw the sky through windows. I was only allowed to see the people Odin let me see. I had no money, nothing but what was in my room. Do you know how many of my things, my books I had to give my valet to sell so he’d arrange for a dominatrix to see me? How much it cost for a guard to look the other way?” 

En took his thumb out and rubbed Loki’s back.

“Let it out Baby. Let that poison out.”

“And Thor kept telling me how happy I was home. How much he’d missed me. How no matter what we were still brothers. What the hell kind of brother does that? He's only here now because he wants to use me. I loved him and he’s just like the rest of them.”

“There you go, Love. Shhh. It’s OK now...I’ll take care of you.”

En slowly pushed the toy back up his ass.

Loki was shaking with emotion. He hated how En took all his secrets and ripped them open. Forcing him to feel things he’d though safely locked away. He wondered for the first time what was in the pill he’d taken.

En seated the toy all the way in and turned the vibe on again. He patted the base and Loki could feel the bump deep in his rectum. The throbbing, the fullness felt so good.

“We’re gonna give your hole a rest now Baby, and I’m gonna hurt you. ‘cause I know… I know how much you need it. Open your mouth Lolo… Don’t want you disturbing the other guests.”

“How Like En.” Loki thought as he opened his lips to take the mouthpiece between his teeth. “Bully me into accepting a safe word, and then make it impossible for me to say it.”

The muzzle was fastened behind his head and he sucked on the leather mouthpiece. En had been considerate there, Loki hated the taste of rubber. How leaving the buzzing toy up his ass was "giving his hole a rest" Loki didn’t know. He wouldn’t have complained if he could. The toys weight tugged at his inner walls, pressed against the inside of his rim. He clenched and he could fell it draw up inside of him and wasn’t that a filthy feeling as the sensation intensified, the vibration echoing all the way into his guts. When he relaxed there was that sweet downward pressure again.

Water was running in the sink and he heard the soft rustle that Loki knew was En washing and drying his hands again. 

“He’s so fucking obsessed with cleanliness, yet he can’t his fingers out of my ass for more than five minutes.” Loki thought.

There was a click and the smell of cigarette smoke and Loki knew En was going to get serious, more serious. Loki had noticed he only seemed to smoke when he was working on a problem. That smoking helped him focus his attention. En put an ashtray on the bar next to Loki’s armpit, the sound of crystal on marble familiar. 

“Now Baby..” En started and Loki knew the talking wasn’t over, that it was only going to get worse and he wanted to scream. 

“I got you some toys, some things to hurt you… to hurt without… well.. damaging you… You know what I mean?”

Loki nodded, he was familiar with floggers, with whips that stung and throbbed but didn’t split skin, didn’t bruise deeply in the right hands.

“But when I got home and I saw what you did to your hands…”

En’s fingertips pressed painfully deep into Loki’s shoulders. 

“We decided you would come to me for that kind of thing…Remember Sugar?” 

“You decided.” Loki thought. “I never agreed. And you weren’t here you bastard. You weren’t fucking here.”

The fingers drew down Loki’s shoulder blades, tugging at his skin, over his ribs and across the muscles on either side of his spine until En’s hands rested on his hips and his thumbs rubbed on his tail bone. Loki wondered how his hands could feel so hard, how his fingers could dig so punishingly into muscle. He remembered when earlier En had knocked him aside with an open handed slap to his jaw. Knocked him to the ground without using his fist.

“So I thought… those toys, they aren’t want you need. You’ve had that before right?"

En paused and Loki understood that he was waiting for an answer. Tried to reason out the question through the pulse of the vibe and the heat of En’s hands on the small of his back. He gave up and shook his head no and then yes to show his confusion.

En took his hands off of Loki and there was the sound of him taking a hit off the cigarette, the sudden increase of smoke as he exhaled.

“I don’t know why I bother if you won’t pay attention Baby.”

End hands were heavy on his shoulders but this time his nails, those perfectly manicured and blue painted nails were digging into his skin, painfully scratching and they traced the same path down his back. 

“Flogged Lolo, you’ve been whipped before haven’t you?”

Loki nodded trying to pay attention to En’s words as his nails tore eight tracks of fire down his back and the toy hung heavy, pulsing in his ass. He’d held it in his hand in the store, gleaming chrome and a ringed shaft. Not that big, not that heavy. Its vibration a mild pulse. But now buried in his ass it was a dragging weight and he was fighting the slick lube and the openness of his rim to hold it in. En was still talking as he marked Loki’s back with a second set of parallel scratches. 

“You liked it didn’t you? Liked the slap, the sting? huh?”

Loki nodded again, and En’s big hands rested on his back the nails released and thumbs rubbing circles.

“You wanted it… want it now… don’t you Honey?”

Loki nodded a third time. He craved the sting and the throbbing heat it left on his skin.

The hands went away and En took another hit on the cigarette, blew warm smoke over Loki’s abraded back.

“You like that game… want it. And if I gave it to you that’s all this would be Lolo. Just another game. But it’s not about games now. It’s not about what you want, Kitten. It’s about what you need.”

En’s hand slapped hard across Loki’s ribs, driving him against the marble bar top and knocking the wind from his lungs. The muzzle bounced against his cheeks with the force of his expelled breath.

“What you need Baby…what you need to learn is my hands...”

Another hard blow under his shoulder blade and his indrawn breath was forced back out.

“My hands… and this is important Lolo…my hands are the only hands that get to hurt you.” 

Another slap hard enough to bruise the scant muscle on the small of his back. The front of his chest ached where he was being slammed on the marble. This wasn’t pleasure, this was punishment and it hurt, hurt in all the wrong ways. 

“I got to tell you Baby…You are such a liar. You are just filled up to the top with lies.”

Loki shook his head no. He’d told the truth, had it ripped out of his soul.

The next slap hit him in the side under his ribs and the pain exploded across his body. En’s hands were a fighters hands, hard as iron and used to delivering blows strong enough to bring a man down. 

“He’s going to kill me if he keeps this up.” Loki thought. “He'll damage my kidneys or tear my spleen and I’ll bleed out.

“Not your lies Kitten, though you’ve made them yours.”

Another slap on the other side that made Loki’s head bounce on the marble.

“He’s going to kill me. He’s going to beat me to death while he smokes and talks and I’ll die hearing his endless prattle in my ears.”

En tapped the base of the vibe and Loki jumped against the restraints as the tap went deep inside and a hollow cold feeling surged up his guts.

“You doing OK there Tiger? Looked like I lost you for a minute.”

Loki found himself nodding and that was wrong. He was in pain and afraid and he wanted it to stop. Didn’t he?

“You’ve so good Lolo. You’ll take whatever I give, won’t you?”

Loki shook his head, suddenly furious. He wouldn’t. He was going to kill this bastard the minute he got free. Find one of the damn guns and blow his fucking head off. He pulled against the cuffs. The chain and leather not giving an inch. En chuckled at his actions and another hard slap flattened his ribs, driving out his air.

“You compare yourself to big bro…so handsome and strong…bright as the sun. Everything you were taught to believe was good. So much better then you… right? Tell the truth.”

Loki wanted to lie and shake his head no. That Thor was an oaf, an empty headed brute. But he remembered how caring he’d been when they were younger, how before the clinic he’d stood up for Loki and defended him, comforted him. Knew how generous and cheerful and quick to forgive he was. He knew Thor’s major faults were that he loved his father too much and couldn’t see him for what he really was, and that he was wedded to the dream of an unchanging Asgard. The dream Odin had sold him from the day he’d been born. Loki knew his brother was the better man. 

He nodded.

En slapped him again, hard, and his breath huffed out.

“Wrong answer Loki.” En said. “It’s like this. Blondie, he's all shining and bright in the sun like gold. And you? You’re all pale and washed out, like your little act is at noon.”

En’s hand hit over his shoulder again over the bruise and Loki screamed into the muzzle, sure his shoulder blade had broken. He was starting to shake from the beating and the queasiness low in his guts was climbing into his belly.

“But Honey that’s because you’re in the wrong place, the wrong situation. You don’t belong in the light.”

Another blow over his ribs and Loki felt the bones shift up with the force of the slap. His head was spinning from having the wind knocked out of him. It was too hard to get enough air only though his nose. An En’s word were tearing into him. He knew he was freak, not fit for the light of day. What the hell was En trying to do to him? He was already broken. Was En trying to grind the shards into dust? 

“You’re darkness Loki. All your roiling anger and broken pride and that brilliant flashing mind. The night is where you belong."

Another blow on his side and Loki was sobbing, nausea churning in his belly. 

“Shut up! Shut up!” He thought. “I know what I am!” 

The hangover was back and his head was pounding.

“At night…you should have seen yourself Baby. Your show wasn’t a show any more. Not tricks and pretty illusions. You were primordial. Fire, Loki, that’s what you are. You burn like a sacrifice and a god… all in one passionate beautiful body.”

Loki was shivering and sweat bloomed over his skin, vomit clawing its way up his throat. The blow on his side was too much and he was going to be sick, he was going to be sick in the muzzle and choke on it and die. Panic ripped through him and he flailed at the restraints beating his hands on the marble. His belly spasming. How could he tell En when he was gagged and…

The muzzle was pulled free from his face and a strong arm was under his chest, lifting him up. He felt something under his chin and he vomited up the tea and a bitterness from the pill and the acrid burn of stomach acid. His belly contracted uncontrolled. The toy was expelled from his body to fall on the floor, the buzz of the vibe suddenly loud. Loki panted weak and shivering.

“You alright Kitten. That all of it?” En asked.

“As though he gives a fuck.” Loki thought bitterly. “He just doesn’t want me getting his goddamned carpet dirty.” But he nodded his head.

The bowl of sick was taken away and water ran in the sink. The vibe was clicked off. A warm wet cloth wiped off his face and a glass was pressed to his lips.

“Rinse your mouth out baby.” He did, spitting out the clear water till the sour taste was gone. There was the ping of the microwave and more tea, warm and not so sweet but still laced with ginger was held to his mouth and Loki drank it gratefully, the warmth soaking into his belly and settling it. He wanted this over. If the cock ring wasn’t hold him hard he’d be limp by now. He sagged against the bar, the restraints holding him up, his face on the cool marble. Weak and shivering and freezing cold. Still in darkness from the blindfold. His whole body ached. He sighed and waited to be untied. En’s hand was on his butt, warm and firm. The he felt an exploring touch, slick rubbing over his tender asshole. Two fingers were pushed inside and En played with the rim of his anus again. He rubbed his thumb over the outside while his fingers stroked inside. It was a strangely casual exploration, but it succeeded in its goal. The lube was the warming one and the gentle heat felt pleasant in a distant way. 

“You like this Lolo?” Ens voice was thicker, rougher.

“Un huh.” Loki answered too tired and cold and drained to speak. He was ice, thin and splintered. The only points of warmth the tea in his belly and En’s fingers his ass. The fingers were removed and Loki whimpered at the loss of their heat.

“Easy Kitten I have what you need.”

There was a blunt pressure at his soft slick hole. Then a warm thickness opened him wider, stretching his anus, filling his rectum. En’s arms reached around his chest and belly and he was enveloped in his heat. He pushed his cock all the way in and Loki could feel the coarse hair of his abdomen on his butt, the fur of his chest against his back. The powerful lean thighs warm on the inside of his spread legs. En was pressed to him full length and Loki was shattering, melting in his heat. En’s lips kissed the base of his neck, his nose nudging up the collar. And he was whispering into Loki’s skin.

“My treasure, my beautiful venomous little snake.”

En’s hips started rocking, his thick cock thrusting and dragging slick in Loki’s asshole. Loki could feel every inch of it. Taking him. Using him. Loki’s cock throbbed and he jerked his hips uselessly seeking any kind of friction. 

“Ah! Ah! Lolo,” En chided as he fucked slow and deep. He paused and his prick twitched inside of Loki. “This is the only cock you need to worry about. Relax and let yourself feel, Sugar.”

“I hate you!” Loki sobbed out. “I fucking hate you old man!”

“Mmm…” En said, his hips driving in an unhurried rhythm.

“My sweet little liar.” He purred and kissed Loki’s shoulder.

Spread out and held tight and still blind, Loki panted. En wasn’t gentle with his bruised back, with his sore shoulder. His hips kept contact with Loki's butt as he rocked, his balls tapping Loki’s with each deep thrust.

Almost everything hurt, his head from too much drinking, his arms and legs from being spread apart for so long, his back and sides and chest from the beating, his stomach muscles from the retching. Even his cock ached to be touched. But his asshole was giving him intensely pleasurable sensations. Loki heard himself begging and for once he didn’t care.

“It feels so good. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. Never stop. I love your cock.”

En chuckled. “Still with this? You hate me but you love my cock?”

“Yes. You’re a cruel, evil bastard, but your cock is so fat and long and hot and it feels so good in my ass.”

“You gonna cum like this?”

“No. I can’t. I don’t care. You feel so good on me, in me. Fuck me forever.” Loki yawned. “God, I’m tired.”

“I know Baby, I know. Let go Loki. No more fighting. I got you Love.”

“OK” Loki said and sniffed. He’d been crying, felt the wetness of tears on his face, and didn’t remember when he’d started or when he’d stopped. He relaxed into En’s embrace. Felt all the tension drain out of his body. He slumped on the bar, his legs relaxed. En’s arms around his waist and his chest supporting him, keeping the cuffs from taking his weight. Totally passive, his body moved by En’s slow steady thrusts.

“Give it up. Just like that. Can you fall asleep while I fuck you Kitten?”

“Don’t think so.” Loki said, though he was already drifting. He was warm, so warm and felt so loved. He’d never in his life felt so loved for himself. His mother, odd to think of her as En’s cock stroked in his ass, but it didn’t bother him now. She loved him as a reminder of past happiness. And Thor, Thor loved him out of duty and memory and a hope that Loki was something other than what he was. But En. With En it was all about Loki. About his pain and his anger and his wounds and especially about his dark twisted need. En didn’t want to cure him, make him a better man. He wanted Loki as he was, with all his ugliness intact.

“You trust me Honey?” En asked and Loki jerked jolted back into awareness.

“No.”

But he wanted to, wanted to trust En totally. Too many reasons not to. His “I wouldn’t kill you just to make a point to your brother.” Implied En would kill him for other reasons. But it felt so good in his arms. Bruised and battered and hurting and being used like this. That warm steady stroking in his ass was all that mattered. It was his heart beat slow and steady, like the sound of waves rolling in under the fog.

“So cute. My sleepy little Kitten.” En said drawing Loki back to consciousness.

“Gonna cum in your ass Sweetheart. You want that?”

“Uh huh.”

The rocking was faster, though still gentle. En’s breathing harsher.

“OK. Gonna fill you up. Fill your sweet ass Loki! Ah! Ah! Un!”

Loki felt En’s cock jerk, felt him grind into his ass. Felt the heat as En spilled inside, Thrusting and thrusting and pulse after pulse, Loki’s hips bumping against the edge of the bar.

Loki lay passive and took it. He’d never been so invested in someone else’s orgasm. He loved how En shuddered as he lay over him. Wanted to laugh at how he couldn’t stop talking even as he came. How he was only quiet now as he caught his breath. Loki was drifting again. En’s prick still fat in his thrumming asshole. His own cock a dull pulsing ache. He floated like that, half asleep while En’s breathing slowed and grew gentle. 

En shifted and unbent leaving Loki’s back uncovered. His cock was starting to soften. He placed a hand on the small of Loki’s back and reached over him to pick something up. 

“Lolo wake up a little for me. I need you tighten up and keep my cum in your ass.”

Loki yawned and clenched his asshole as En pulled his softening shaft out. It was hard to keep the mess inside and he felt a dribble slide down his perineum. En’s fingers scooped it up and pressed it back inside. Loki wondered how he was supposed to hold it there. He was too open, too relaxed. The fingers were removed and something hard pressed against his hole. It was pushed in wide, wider then En’s cock. Too wide.

“Ow!” Loki was awake now and he stretched up on his toes trying to get away from the toy. “It’s too big!”

“Almost there Baby, just a little more.”

Loki couldn’t take anymore it was too big and he wanted it out now. En pushed it in harder and Loki yipped and then it popped past his outer rim and was seated inside. His anus closed around the narrow base and Loki sighed in relief. The thickness of the plug felt good now that it was inside. En patted his rump, reached around and released his cock from its cage and ring. A warm cloth cleaned up the remains of lube between Loki’s legs and his ass cheeks. En undid the shackles and brought Loki’s feet together, letting him take some weight back on them before releasing his hands. Even so he had to support Loki as he tried to stand on his own. He took the blindfold off and Loki blinked in the bright light. It hurt his head and he quickly shut his eyes.

En chuckled at that. “Poor baby.” he said. 

Loki peered through almost shut eyes. He could see En was still wearing the robe. He’d only opened it to fuck Loki and he now tied it shut. He led Loki over to the couch and sat him down.

“Lie down Honey.” 

Loki did so, turning on his side and yawning. En pulled the coverlet off the bed and lay it over Loki’s naked body. A handful of bar napkins were tucked under his half hard cock. En sat down and took Loki's head in his lap.

“Go to sleep Kitten.” En said.

He reached his hand under the blanket and enveloped Loki’s cock with his long strong fingers. Loki pushed into his grasp, but En shook his head.

“Lie still and go to sleep. Don’t worry at this. He gave Loki’s cock a squeeze. I’ll take care it once you are asleep. OK?”

Loki yawned again and nodded. He didn’t really care. En’s hand felt good on his cock and the plug felt good in his ass. Too much had happened today. It was curious how little he could remember at the moment. His eyes drifted closed.

En smiled. The soporific in the second cup of tea had done it. Loki had thrown up the first pill before it could do much good. He knew the boy would do nothing but worry about his brother all day if he wasn’t distracted. Loki’s mind never ever shut down. The sex was a good diversion, but his kitten really needed to sleep. He was looking pretty bad, all pale and shaky. Now he was finally settling down.

After a short while, En peeled back the coverlet. Loki didn’t react to the cool air on his bare skin, his breathing stayed slow and regular. He was really out. En started stroking his cock, wondering if he was far enough under to cum in his sleep. Loki didn’t twitch a muscle. En smiled as Loki made soft little noises, while he jerked him off. Loki’s mouth opened, his tongue touched his lips and he sighed as his cock pulsed and spilled. En wiped his boy’s cock off and pulled the coverlet back over him. He then spent a an entertaining five minutes feeding Loki’s cum back between his parted lips, a finger full at a time. En smiled again and patted Loki’s shoulder before picking up the remote to catch the afternoon races at Santa Anita. Loki was such a sweet thing. Even sound asleep, his little slut still sucked when a finger was put into his mouth. En idly wondered what Loki would do with a cock there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> En is a total bastard. Loki is so needy and angry that it's just a joy for En to screw with him. Not that he doesn't care for his little Kitten in his own twisted dark way. I may have lifted an idea from a certain military police show, but you know, En watches TV too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> En has a nice day. Loki gets some rest and talks to his brother and makes some plans of his own. Thor helps out a friend.

As cute as his little Kitten looked, with his face soft and relaxed in sleep and as enticing as the idea of fucking his unconscious body was, En decided to forgo the pleasure this time. Loki had been through a lot today and raping the boy while he slept, might just be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. He couldn’t be certain Loki wouldn’t wake up, and he didn’t know which way his unpredictable little cat would jump. 

En sighed. Loki would look so pretty with his lips wet and En's spend all over his sleeping face and dribbling from the corners of his slack mouth. As pleasant as the thought was, he put it away. But hey, he’d had a pretty full twenty four hours himself, enjoyable in its own way when he thought about it. No need to be greedy.

He clicked off the TV when the last of the races were over and totaled up his wins. Not too bad, he was in the black today. Not that he used real money, gambling was a fool's game and En was no fool. But he liked the rush as the horses raced to the finish line and the thrill when his pick was called out. He kept strict records and only wagered within his self imposed budget. False though the winnings were they gave him a boost. It really was his day!

He got up and made the kind gesture of slipping a pillow under Loki’s head. He really loved spoiling the boy. Since he was being magnanimous and allowing Loki to sleep unmolested it was time to go torment big bro and company. Brian should have them softened up by now. Brian was always an excellent choice when it came to intimidating people, either with words, or with more physical encouragement, Brian got the job done. Quite the versatile man, En congratulated himself on seeing his potential when he’d found him just rotting in that prison. Such a waste of talent. A little money, a little persuasion and he had his most loyal employee. Brian was even more callous about the difference between the living and the dead. One hollow point round as far as Brian was concerned.

En took the elevator down, humming to himself. This day just kept getting better.

Loki slept the rest of the afternoon and through the following night. He’d digested a good amount of the first pill before he’d thrown up and the second dose laid him out. He’d not fully woken when En shook him enough to get him to stagger to bed. Nor had he done more than whimper and raise one arm in protest when En had belatedly remembered the plug up Loki’s ass and removed it. Now that had been a fair amount of work. The boy’s little hole had closed down tight and the lube of coarse had dried out long ago. En had had to roll him onto his stomach and put a couple of pillows under his hips, just so he could see what he was doing, after the plug had refused to budge on his first attempt. He didn’t want to tear Loki open after all. That would put a major kink in his plans. He'd had to re-slick the plug and the boy’s anus. Working the plug in and out till Lolo’s greedy little hole had finally let go. 

And wasn’t that a pretty sight. Loki sleeping soundly with his face pressed on the sheet and his bottom up and his long legs spread and his hot little hole slick and gaping like it was just begging to be fucked. En was sorely tempted to go back on his decision especially when he caught a glimpse of Loki’s cock, hard from all the attention his ass was getting. But a promise was a promise even if it was to himself and En contented himself with fingering and lightly spanking Loki’s asshole while he brought himself off. He did grab his cell and take a picture of Loki before cleaning him up and putting the pillows back. He wanted to remember his boy with his butt in the air and his anus puffy and open, En’s cum dripping down his pale ass, and his sweet face so relaxed. En made it his screen saver. Maybe he'd send it to big bro later if he needed to throw him off his game.

*****

Loki woke with a foul taste in his mouth and yelped when he first tried to sit up. A slower attempt was successful and he sat on the edge of the bed taking stock. En was gone who knew where and Loki was glad. He didn’t want to hear his incessant chattering or his crowing about how he’d ‘helped’ Loki by beating the crap out of him. Or his reasons for drugging him unconscious. 

Loki hauled himself into the bathroom and assessed his injuries in the mirror. He hurt everywhere, but the bruises where localized to where En had hit him or where his chest had hit the bar. So there was no spreading internal bleeding. He was tender but everything moved and there was no sharp stabbing pain, thus broken bones were unlikely. He'd heal. At least the headache was gone.  
His asshole was sore and aching but considering everything that he’d gone through yesterday he was in relatively good shape. 

The first thing he wanted was a hot shower and the heat eased some of his pain. Loki slowly dressed in a style conservative for him, picking torn jeans and an oversized t-shirt that hung off one shoulder. He even made the effort to put on shoes before descending to the lobby level. He hit the breakfast bar right before it closed, not too picky to gobble down cold eggs and dried out toast. He finished his meal and a third cup of coffee and went looking for En.

En wasn’t in the office or the basement nor was anyone else. Loki checked the lounge and saw the fire curtain was being installed. With luck he would have his first appearance on the stage tomorrow night. He swung back through the casino on the off chance En had to sort something out at the cash desk, but he came up dry. He was making his way back through the restaurant to see if En had left him a message with the manager, when he heard Thor boom out,

“Loki!”

Loki turned and saw Thor and Fandral, apparently unharmed and unguarded sitting at a table with menus in their hands. He’d been hunting for En, specifically because he wanted to ask about Thor and Fandral and, if possible see with his own eyes that they were alright. Perversely seeing them sitting here free and without any injuries enraged him. Loki stalked over to them.

“What the hell are you two doing here?”

“Where else would we be?” Thor asked mildly.

“I don’t know, in jail or under guard somewhere or on a plane back to Asgard, Not sitting here ordering lunch.”

“Fucking Thor!” Loki thought. “He performs assault and battery, and breaking and entering or at least trespassing and he gets off with a show of force, that wasn’t even directed at him and what? A stern talking to? A room for the night? While I only get drunk and puke on the floor and I get the shit beat out of me. Typical.”

“I'm not leaving here without you brother.” Thor said.

“Go to fucking hell Thor. I will not go back. Give it up, get on a plane and go home.”

“I can’t Loki.”

“Why can you not get it through your stubborn head that I won’t help you?”

“Loki,” Fandral said, “What your brother meant to say, is that I cannot leave. It seems our charming host will press charges should we attempt to depart. While your brother still holds the position of diplomat from a prior visit to this lovely country, I alas, do not. Also is seems the courtesies that extend to the heir apparent of a head of state, do not reach low enough for said heir’s friend. Despite my urging to the contrary Thor has decided to stay and assist me during my misfortune. In short..”

“In short,” Thor interrupted, “I have agreed to an exhibition fight with Gast’s champion. When I win, he has assured us he will drop the charges.” 

“Have you gone completely insane?” Loki asked. “His champion is a professional fighter and from what I’ve gathered an extremely vicious and brutal one. I haven’t seen him myself but I hear he is huge. He’ll kill you. Fandral tell me you are not a party to this stupidity.”

“I assure you my prince, I tried to talk him out of this action but he’s adamant. You know how he is when he has made up his mind. In his defense he has no small amount of skill in the pugilistic arts.”

“I’ve won the cup the last three years at the summer festival.” Thor put in.

“Fighting against farm boys and dilatants! It is not the same thing. Call it off!”

“I appreciate your belief in my prowess. But if you want it called off, talk to your ‘friend’, it was his idea.” 

“Don’t try to put this on me. You wouldn’t be in this position if you had stayed home, or failing that, had acted with a modicum of intelligence, instead of charging in like a maddened bull.”

“However bad my position is I prefer it to yours. I, at least, sought an honorable solution to our dilemma.”

Loki lifted his chin, squared his shoulders and pressed his lips into a thin line. His eyes narrowed.

“Be assured, dear brother, whatever you assume about ‘my position’ you are undoubtedly wrong. I shall put a very large wager against you in the upcoming fight. Try not to disappoint me, again.” 

Loki turned and swept out with a regal rage that belied his ragged clothing. He could not help but overhear Fandral’s voice in the silence caused by their arguing.

“You shall not win him to your cause with words of that sort, Thor.”

His brother’s answer was acid in Loki’s soul.

“I doubt I will win him with any words. I fear my brother was lost to me long ago.”

“Lost to you?” Loki thought as he pushed through the double doors to the back hallway. “You left me Thor, left me behind to take up with your friends and your frivolous pursuits. Left me behind so Odin could forge me into a tool for your hand. Only the steel wasn’t pure and he made me into a blade by mistake. I’ll stab you brother. Stab you right in the heart of everything you hold dear.

******

Loki watched the latest news stream from Asgard’s most restless neighbor. While Asgard itself was not so very valuable, as a test ground for a revolution to free ‘the people’ it was ideal. The success of such a move would increase their standing with their allies. This then was the enemy who had Thor so worried. The difficulty of making any military moves however was overcoming Asgard’s considerable western support.

But there were ways other than the military, to undermine support. Propaganda could turn supporters into detractors. After spending the last two years trapped in the castle and expected to learn all the details of rule so he could do the dirty work while his brother lounged on the throne, Loki knew where all the skeletons were buried. He’s sat in many a closed council meeting and knew just how much the Aesir despised those whose labor provided them with their every need. It wouldn’t be too difficult to turn the view of Asgard’s upper class as benevolent leaders supporting traditional cultural values, into one of despotic overlords full of prejudice and stupidity. He knew just which one to start with. 

Freyr Njordson liked to portray himself as the physical embodiment of the god he’d been named for, a protector of women and supporter of farmers. In reality the lecher acted as if his female domestics were his own private harem and treated his tenant as little more than livestock that could speak. Loki didn’t know if the rumor that he’d debauched his own sister was true, but it was easy to believe of him. 

Loki smiled. He’d live up to his namesake. He’d write his own Lokasenna and spread it not within the confines of a feasting hall but across the world stage of the internet. He’d bring Ragnarök down on their arrogant heads. Instead of coming to Asgard’s rescue, he’d set it on fire and watch it burn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but it finishes up some hanging threads and starts the next series of events. En is still a bastard. Loki is still a mess and Thor is doing his best, but handicapped by his upbringing. Fandral is well, Fandral.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki makes plans. Fandral tries his skills at persuasion. En pushes too hard and is surprised at the results. Angst and a few answers.

Loki was engrossed in breaking into Asgard’s computer system. As he was the one to initially install most of the programs he was having little trouble. The majority of his backdoors were still intact. The military ones were gone. He’d never expected those to stand up to close scrutiny, they were a test run to see if anyone was paying attention. What he was looking at were the records pertaining to the daily running of the country. No one had messed with those and there was a lot of basic information laid out for him. It was what he stumbled on next that left him in gleeful shock. Odin’s intelligence records were compromised from the isolated system he’d set it up on, by someone linking them to Asgard’s main server. 

Odin had not really appreciated the work Loki did in moving the intelligence records from the paper files to computer. Nor apparently did he grasp why he’d kept the files on a small network of isolated computers. Because here was his lovely back door right into their latest spy reports. Loki went in and started essaying the damage. It was a freaking shambles. Whoever Odin had entering the files should be horsewhipped. There was no cross-referencing at all. Not even an attempt was made to analyze the information. The newer entries were organized solely by date. Two reports contained enough information to identify the reporting agents. Loki hunted for clues that this was a trap and only uncovered more signs of incompetence.

As far as Loki could tell, Odin had hired a low level data entry clerk to simply type up the reports. They were using Loki’s elegant system like a manual file cabinet. Amongst the files Loki found a list of online game links and one folder full of porn from a notoriously virus ridden site. He chortled with delight and set about hunting down a worm to embed in the files so the contents would be replicated and uploaded to where it would do the most harm. 

He was laughing to himself when he heard the door open. Loki quickly closed out all the files, save the porn vid and glanced back, expecting En. Fandral stood in the doorway, his cocksure expression somewhat subdued by duel black eyes and the bandage across his nose. Loki pointedly turned back to the screen, where two beautiful women were improbably giving a blowjob to a balding man dressed as an office worker.

“Loki,” Fandral ignored the antics on the computer. “I would have you reconsider your stance. I know that Asgard has been difficult for you these past few years, but I…”

“Difficult? What a mild euphemism for torture and imprisonment.”

Loki turned up the volume and the moaning of the women increased as they writhed in mock ecstasy. Fandral crossed the room to stand beside Loki. 

“There were good times before then.”

“No Fandral, there were never _good times._ There were at best, tolerable times. If you think to appeal to nostalgia to get my assistance in keeping those parasites in power, you are destined for failure.”

“Your brother needs you.” 

Fandral put a hand to Loki’s shoulder. Loki flinched and jerked away. His T-shirt slipped down baring the fresh purpled bruise. Fandral took a sharp indrawn breath.

“I wouldn’t bother to piss on Thor if he was on fire.” Loki said and pulled the shirt back up.

“What happened to you?”

“What always happens, Fandral. Thor screws up and I pay the price. I had a good thing going on here until you two morons showed up.”

“A good thing? Loki he held a gun to your head!”

“What of it. He didn’t shoot me. None of it would have happened except for Thor’s stupidity. Why didn’t you just ask to speak to me?” 

Loki turned off the porn clip and Fandral’s voice sounded strained in the sudden silence.

“He was afraid that, um perhaps, you were under an, unhealthy influence. That you may not be making the best decisions regarding your own welfare. The woman he spoke to at Mr.,” Fandral’s face twisted at the honorific, “Gast’s home in San Francisco implied there was a monetary component to your relationship.”

Loki smiled. “I’ll bet she did, that bitch. Thor was afraid I was whoring myself out for a nice place to stay and some pretty clothes.”

“Loki that’s not...”

“Not too far off the mark. Add in a chance to perform on stage, doing what I love. A chance to be a magician, with audiences who will appreciate me instead of wasting my life slaving away for a bunch of ungrateful assholes who hate me.”

“For a chance at a career, you allow this man to mistreat you?”

“Allow? No, I encourage him.” Loki said with particular viciousness. “Everyone uses me. At least now I have a say in how I’m used. Besides,” Loki lowered his voice, he wanted to see the disgust in Fandral’s eyes. “The sex afterwards is mind blowing. The more intense the pain, the greater the fuck.”

“Loki you’re better than this.”

“No I’m not. This is who I am Fandral. Odin only helped strip away the mask. The corruption has been there all along. There aren’t any happy endings for people like me.”

“There could be.” Fandral said softly and touched Loki’s arm.

Loki turned his head and looked up. Fandral gazed at him with such compassion, that Loki’s anger abated. Was he offering more than his usual open handed friendship? The feeling of hope was so foreign to him, Loki nearly didn’t recognize it. Loki swallowed not sure what to say.

“Come home.” Fandral said.

“Fuck!” Loki snarled. His gates slammed closed. Of course it was a play. If Fandral felt anything for Loki it was only pity. Loki’s expression hardened.

“Loki, I didn’t mean…”

Loki saw movement in the corner of his eye as En walked through the open door.

"Good morning, Lover," Loki said relishing the wince from Fandral. 

En crossed the small room and elbowed Fandral aside. 

“Hey there Errol, not thinking of poaching are you?” He slid his fingers through Loki’s hair and tilted the younger man’s head back.

“Hardly, he’s still trying to get me to go back to Asgard with them. I told him no. Again.”

“Good. Lolo can tell you I don’t like to share.” He gave Loki’s hair a sharp tug. “Right Baby?”

“Yes En.” Loki’s eyes narrowed. Was that what was really behind the beating? Or was En just adding another layer to the games?

“So you just vamoose, Honey. The sign on the door says private office. Lolo can talk to you on his own time.”

Loki turned back to the screen. He heard Fandral’s hesitation, then his steps going out and the door closing. En locked it behind him and returned to Loki.

“What was he doing in here?” En demanded.

Loki frowned in irritation and reopened the security site. “I told you he came as Thor’s emissary. If you think he’s interested in me you’re mistaken.”

He ignored En’s fingers combing through his hair and pulled up the coding on the porn clip. This was the guy’s favorite so there was a good chance it would be viewed soon. He started modifying the worm, his fingers flying over the keyboard. 

“That’s not what I asked, Loki. What was he doing _in_ the office?”

“Fuck, En. I’m busy right now. What does it matter? He didn’t see anything.” Satisfied with his progress so far, Loki concentrated on inserting the worm into the clip’s code.

His head was suddenly jerked back and En’s hand cracked across his jaw, snapping his neck sideways. Pain exploded behind his eyes. His vision tunneled and hazed to red and he surged to his feet, his hands balling into fists. En stepped back as Loki leapt up, falling into a fighter’s stance as though daring Loki to throw a punch.

“How did he get in Kitten?”

Loki didn’t answer, the beating, the drugging and the game En was playing with Thor all fed into his rage. En was using him just as Odin had, taunting him. Then it was Odin jeering at him. Loki’s adrenaline fueled punch was fast and deadly, had it landed as intended, it would have broken bone. His knuckles scraped the side of En’s cheek, tearing skin as the older man dodged the blow. If En had expected Loki to stop at one punch he was quickly dissuaded of the idea, as Loki follow with a hard left and then a leg sweep. Loki was young, the training of the past few days had reawakened his fighting skills and he was insane with fury. En’s calculated return strikes only added to his ferocity. His experience and level of fitness gave him the edge, but he was hard pressed to defend himself from Loki’s manic attack without injuring him.

The younger man was screaming in a language that En did not speak but his repeated, “Odin”, left no doubt who Loki thought he was fighting. En dodged and feinted until he blocked Loki in a corner of the room where he could cause little harm while he wore himself out. He was finally able to catch Loki’s wrist and pin him to the wall without dislocating his arm. Loki bucked and cursed and struggled for a few more moments, till his breathing became ragged gasping and half muttered words. 

En felt him suddenly relax and he released the pressure on his arm. Loki turned and buried his head against En’s neck and clung to him shaking. En stroked his back.

“Easy Baby…You’re OK. I have you.”

There was a commotion outside the office and Thor’s booming tones could be heard. Brian’s cold voice cut through his protests. En decided to ignore them. If Brian had to shoot Blondie to calm things down then so be it. His kitten needed him. He held Loki while the shaking turned to shivering. The shivering didn’t stop and more worrisome Loki was rocking from foot to foot and he was making a low humming sound. 

“Hey, hey Lolo, it’s alright now.”

The shivering slowed and Loki made an odd hiccupping noise, and stopped rocking. He said against En’s neck.

“Don’t hit me. Don’t hit me again. I’ll kill you En if you hit me like that again.”

“OK Honey. You don’t let anybody in the office and I won’t hit you.”

Loki lifted his head and met En eye to eye. There was a hardness in his gaze the older man had never seen in him. 

“I am not playing En Dwi Gast. You point a gun at me, or beat me as you did yesterday or hit me when we are not fucking and you had better kill me. Because I will end you.”

En met his look with a glare, but Loki didn’t back down.

“You trying to make the rules now Loki? That’s not how things work.”

“I am setting limits. That is how _I_ work.”

En cupped Loki’s jaw in his hand. The skin was warm over the reddening bruise. He brushed his thumb over the thin lips. Loki never dropped his eyes or softened his expression as he opened his mouth and licked the ball of En’s thumb. En felt a burn as if Loki’s tongue were a flame. Under his brittle exterior, under the damaged sensitive boy, there was steel. En smiled. Of course there was. How else had he survived with his mind intact, with the strength to keep on fighting? He pushed his thumb into Loki’s mouth, watched his lips close around the knuckle, felt the warm suction.

Loki’s eyes fluttered closed and En slid a hand down and cupped his ass. But instead of leaning into the touch, Loki laid his head on En’s chest and started humming again, rocking against En as he sucked. His behavior reminded En of a child trying to comfort itself and his stomach twisted. Kids were a major turn off for him and Loki's behavior was vulnerable in a way that activated En's protective instincts. He abruptly pulled away.

“En!” Loki's cry was plaintive and lost.

“Not like that, not here, Baby.” En said. 

He walked over to the door and opened it. Brian was down the hall with an angry arguing Thor, a pensive Fandral and two beefy security men both of whom had their hands in easy reach of their weapons. En steered Loki to the elevator. They were already inside when Thor looked past Brian to see them.

“Loki!” Thor thundered and started forward. He stopped on seeing Loki’s blank eyed look. “What did he do to you? What did you do to my brother?” 

The security guards grabbed Thor and held him back as the elevator closed. Loki made no reply. He rocked and hummed and shivered, his arms wrapped around himself. 

Upstairs En sat Loki on the couch, wrapped the throw around the boy and poured himself a shot of whiskey before joining him. Loki snuggled into his side, put his head on En’s shoulder and pulled his free hand to his mouth. En allowed it and watched as Loki took two fingers into his mouth, shut his eyes and sucked. The rocking and humming continued. He drank the whiskey, and between sips rubbed Loki’s back. Eventually the fingers Loki was sucking on started to go numb and he shifted him to him other hand. Loki stopped shivering after a few minutes, but it was almost an hour before he quieted, took his mouth from En’s hand and sat back.

“You OK now Lolo?”

“I think so.” Loki said and ran his hands through his hair, pulling it back into place. 

“This something that happens a lot?”

“Not anymore. Not for a couple of years.” Loki looked out the windows and En knew he wasn’t being honest. 

“You wanna tell me about it?”

“No." Loki sighed. "I did it when I heard my mother was killed.

“Did you start this while you in the clinic?” En asked, and kissed his forehead.

“No. It came back there. I used to do it when I was a little kid. When I got upset, so I wouldn’t cry. No one could hear me and I wouldn’t get in trouble.”

“Why would you get in trouble?”

“I don’t know, as long as I can remember I wasn’t supposed to cry. Only babies and girls and sissies cry, or throw tantrums, or act foolish. I was supposed to stay in control. Losing control is a weakness.”

“Baby I hate to mention it, but Blondie doesn’t seem very much in control.”

“He was allowed. He was the good one. His was righteous anger, justified sorrow, and building comradery with his friends. I was just trying to get attention.”

“Honey?” Loki looked back at En. There was a strangeness in his voice that peaked Loki’s curiosity.

“Yes?”

“You want me to have Odin killed?”

Loki thought about it for a few minutes. He knew En was serious, he just didn’t know what the catch was.

“What will it cost me?”

“This, I would do for free Baby. No strings.” He cupped Loki’s chin, long fingers massaging the tender mark his hand had made.

“No.”

“Why not?” 

Partly because Loki didn’t trust En one fucking bit, but also because he wanted to be the one to take Odin down.

“I don’t want him dead. I want to destroy him. I want him to see everything he worked for in ruin, and everyone he thought loyal turned against him. I want him to suffer.”

En patted Loki’s jaw and pulled him forward for a kiss. It was the tenderest kiss Loki have ever received from him. A slow and soft meeting of lips with the gentlest hold on the back of his head.

“There’s my good Kitten.” En said, hugging him. “You have a plan, Baby?”

Loki nipped at his earlobe.

“When do I not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a mental health professional. So if the rage episode and the melding of Loki's anger at En with this anger at Odin resulting in him railing against the wrong person is off to you, call it artistic license. But I stand by my take on his self-calming activity. The paradox of feeling emotionally blank while simultaneously being overstimulated is a real thing.
> 
> So as evil as En is, even he has a few limits.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise for Loki. Thor reevaluates the past and Fandral speaks up. En plays nice.  
> Mentions of rape.

Despite the ear nibbling, neither of them was in an amorous state of mind after the morning’s upheavals. En departed the penthouse to work and Loki remained, not wanting to encounter his brother or his friend again. After hunting out En’s laptop, and calling downstairs for the password, Loki spent the rest of the day setting up everything he needed to compromise Asgard’s intelligence network. He also gathered as much evidence as he could find, that detailed the imbalanced relationship between Asgard's upper and lower classes. He spent a frustrating couple of hours trying to track down recordings of the council meetings. They would be a powerful weapon in this war of information he was waging. The council members would be condemned by their own words. He knew Odin had them, both audio and more recently video. Transferring those records to digital format was on his to do list when he left Asgard last year. He hoped the data entry clerk had done the job, but if so, Loki hadn’t found the files yet. Considering the guy’s random file naming, he could have mountains of data to sift through and still not find them.

It did little to improve his mood when a call came on the penthouse phone and his brother started drilling him about what had happened earlier and asking him if he was on drugs. Loki ended the call with an explicative. He unplugged the phone and went back to work. Thor wasn’t getting the message that Loki didn’t need his interference. He wondered if his brother would ever wake up and smell the bullshit.

It was late afternoon when he finally located some of the recordings. Under a file marked ‘partial’ for no discernible reason. They were of the most recent council meetings, and were even more damning than those Loki had seen recording the petty slurs directed at their own underclass. Several Jarls were openly mocking the leaders of the very countries whose protection kept them from being assimilated by their aggressive neighbors. While Loki agreed in principal to some of their opinions, it didn’t stop him from uploading the political bomb so he could drop it where it would do the most damage. He laid a trail that led back to Asgard's own government IP address, should anyone get curious as to their anonymous source. As soon as he’d mined everything he needed, he intended to crash and burn their system anyway.

Loki found himself in a bit of a dilemma. While he wanted to hurt his brother, he didn’t want him dead. The prospect of war in Asgard would have him racing home to lead the glorious battle in an attempt to save his country. Thor was stubborn enough to not give in to the inevitable, despite overwhelming odds. He was charismatic enough to rally their troops and so foolishly brave he’d lead them from the front. So Thor needed to be kept here, preferably isolated from the news until it was all over. The solution was the fight, and keeping him and Fandral so caught up in training for it, that they wouldn’t know what was going on. The downside was that En’s champion had already seriously injured one boxer and was rumored to have caused the deaths of at least two others before he arrived in the U.S. Having Thor get the shit beat out of him was fine. Having him get beaten to death or permanently maimed wasn’t. Loki was going to have to exert all his influence in an area he knew En didn't accept interference. He cursed to himself. Fucking Thor was always screwing up his plans.

Dinner arrived without En and with two notes. The first was from En and presented on a silver platter. It was decorated with enough curlicues and hearts to delight the soul of a love struck teenaged girl and scented with his cologne. Loki chuckled at the strange dichotomy of his murderously romantic boyfriend. En wrote for Loki to enjoy his solo dinner and be prepared for a surprise later this evening. Though prepared wasn’t the word he used. “Get yourself all cleaned up, Lolo, I have something special planned for you.” was the exact phrase. Loki hoped it wasn’t going to become another marathon of ass play, he wasn’t fully recovered from last time. But if that’s what it took to get around En, he’d be up for it. 

“The shit I do for you, brother.” He thought. “You would never think to thank me for.”

After laying out the covered dishes, the waiter handed Loki an envelope from Fandral with an air of someone passing on a mysteriously ticking package. Loki took it without comment and tossed it unread into the trash bin. He clicked on the TV, found a performance of the School of American Ballet and with the strains of Delibes’ La source playing in the background, Loki sat down to enjoy his meal.

The ballet was delightful and the food was delicious. Little puff pastries with lobster and crab and spinach fillings as well as half dozen raw iced oysters were the appetizer. Apparently stamina was going to be a requirement for the evening’s entertainment. Next there was a light salad, then local grilled trout, warm sourdough bread and seasoned new potatoes for the main course. Desert was a light lime chiffon that melted on his tongue. 

“Fuck, En could keep me for the food alone.” Loki thought. He poured second glass of the dry white wine and took an appreciative sip. The man was a gourmet, and Loki could easily get used to dinners like this. It sure beat the crap out of what passed for royal fare in Asgard.

Mellowed by the meal, he retrieved Fandral’s note from the trash. After deciphering the flowery script and wording, it was an announcement that they had found a trainer for Thor and would be joining him at his home in the mountains. The man was no longer in the fight scene, but Thor’s determination (and money Loki thought) had brought him out of retirement. He had been famous in his day, bringing an impressive number of champions to the sport and Thor was agog at finding the man was still alive. Loki wondered how a guy who hadn’t been in the field for twenty plus years was going to help, but he knew that Thor got what Thor wanted regardless of consequence. Let the old fart deal with him then. The good news was the guy’s place was so remote that they would be out of touch for a few weeks while Thor trained. 

Loki wanted to dance on the bar after reading that. He would put his plan into action as soon as they were safely hidden away. He considered Fandral's plea that he speak with Thor before they left with their escort in the morning. If Thor was reassured by Loki, he’d be more likely to stay put until the day of the fight. Loki did not want to see him, but decided that he could make an appearance in the morning, long enough to get Thor on his way and short enough that it would not devolve into a fight. He penned a concise letter and addressed it to his brother. He was sealing the envelope when the waiter returned. He handed Loki a brown paper wrapped package and a garment bag and tucked the letter in his pocket before clearing the table. Loki hoped Thor was tipping the guy. Loki was all out of his stolen money and he wasn’t about to ask En for any. He might be En’s kept boy, but he was damned if he was going to be his paid whore. 

Loki waited until the man had left to open the box. Inside was another note from En and his surprise. Loki raised an eyebrow at the contents. The garment bag contained another surprise. This was new, a bit farther then he had gone before, but what the hell. It looked like it could be fun. With that thought he went to the bathroom to “get all cleaned up.” 

******

Thor had been almost inconsolable that morning. Fandral heard the fight and raced to bring Thor to the scene. He would have broken down the door had Brian not stood with his gun drawn with armed two security people to back him up. That he could hear his brother cursing and yelling meant that he couldn't be badly hurt. The things he said, though, they staggered Thor. He knew Loki was angry at their father, but the vitriol that spewed from his mouth told Thor that his hatred preceded his days at the clinic and its roots were buried deep in his childhood. To hear his own name as a curse and listen to the bitter resentment that boiled up out of Loki against him, sapped his will. He stood stupefied until the fight ended. He again argued with Brian to be allowed to go to see to his brother, but his heart wasn’t in it. When the two men came out of the office Thor was glad to see the old bastard holding a bloodied handkerchief to his face, but when he caught a glimpse of Loki, pale and blank and hugging himself as if he would fall apart at any moment, Thor disregarded anything but getting to his brother. He shoved past Brian only to be grabbed by his men. Before he could shake off the security guards, the elevator closed. 

It was Fandral who calmed him down. Fandral who talked him into returning to their room and let him rant until he was finally able to speak without shouting. He concocted several plans to rescue his brother, each more outrageous than the last. Fandral pointed out that Loki didn’t want to be rescued, that he was a grown man and that perhaps, taking him back to a life he obviously hated would not be good for anyone.

“He cannot be happy with that monster.” Thor said. “You have seen how he treats Loki. Like a servant and worse.”

“Thor, I know you care about your brother, but you must realize that Loki chose to leave home, not once, nor twice but three times. If he wished to leave here do you truly believe that this Gast could hold him against his will? There are no armed guards at his door.”

That was reminder of the security team that was stationed outside their room.

Thor shook his head. “He’s not well Fandral. He’s not thinking clearly.”

“You keep saying that Thor, but you must realize that simply because Loki has a liking for men, does not mean he is in anyway ill in his mind. He is hurt and angry, that is true. And I agree that this man En is not the best companion he could choose. But neither of these things makes him insane. If you wish to regain your brother’s trust you must accept his decisions about his own life.”

Thor stared at his friend. “You cannot mean you approve of his behavior?”

“It is not something for anyone to approve or disapprove of. Did you ask for his approval when you kissed your first girl? Or took a young lady dancing? Or tupped a willing woman? Then why do you think you have the right to do so to him?”

“But father says such things are an abomination.”

“Odin says the same about modern clothing and music and even computers Thor, and I notice you pay little heed to him on those subjects. He is an old man with old views, and the world has left him behind. You know as well as I that Loki has never pleased him. Do you think you would have been shut away had you been arrested? If that is, they would have even dared to arrest you in the first place. I have noticed during our adventures, my friend, the police are willing to look the other way for your minor crimes.”

“I have never done what Loki did.”

“No? You have never been dancing at a club, or had too much to drink, or took your pleasure with one of the barmaids in a backroom?”

“That’s not the same thing!”

“How is it not, Thor. Because he was with a man instead of a woman?”

“He was drugged out of his mind. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

Fandral stared at him in silence for a long moment. His voice was quieter when he answered and held a note of anger that Thor had rarely heard him express.

“If that is the case, Thor then your brother was raped. Loki should have been in a hospital for his injuries, not locked up in jail all night and treated like a pariah. Tell me truly, is that what you know or only what you were told?”

“I, I…” Thor took a shuddering breath and started again. “I know he was still high when the chief of police brought him home the next morning. I was leaving for the United States that day, you remember. That was why we were out celebrating the night before. But I overheard father yelling at him and all he did was stand there and never deny the accusation.” 

Fandral’s shocked expression made Thor aware of how badly he’d failed his brother that day. He put his head in his hands. That was also when he’d heard Odin throw their mother’s infidelity and Loki’s illegitimacy in his brother’s face. Instead of staying and supporting Loki, he’d been so shocked by what he heard of their mother, he had allowed himself to be hurried off to catch his plane. He had grasped his father’s order to leave like a lifeline and ran away from a truth too painful to bear. He who had sworn to protect his brother, had abandoned him in his hour of need.

Thor thought of all the times he had skipped out of a council meeting to go with his friends and Loki had taken his place. Of how his brother had studied hard at his lessons and helped Thor whenever he had struggled. How Loki kept up with the details of the personal and political situations and attended innumerable diplomatic functions at his side to guide Thor, so he would not misstep. True his words were often scathing and he had derided his brother more than once on his lack of brains or diligence. But he was always there when Thor needed him.

It wasn’t just Thor he helped out. He’d ran errands and taken notes and looked up odd bits of information for Odin. Things even Thor wasn’t privy to. Even during the two years when Loki was confined to the castle, he had continued to work for Asgard, while Thor felt free to slip away from his more onerous duties and take his pleasure in gaming and drinking and women. Thor knew he took his father’s praise for granted, but now, as he searched his memory, he could not think of a time Odin praised Loki. Never was he told anything more, than that his work was acceptable. But Thor could easily recall the times Loki was called to task for his infractions. Minor bits of mischief that would have eared Thor a wry smile, brought Loki punishment. A clerical error that Odin would have been pointed out to his secretary for correction, was an excuse to berate his brother for carelessness.

It hit Thor that Loki had been held to an impossibly high standard all in the name of training him to be ready to rule Asgard, while at the same time Odin had made it clear that Thor was to be the next king. 

His father had treated his brother shamefully. 

Odin had been wrong.

Thor’s world reeled. Odin was wise, loving, caring. Thor had believed that his whole life. Everything Thor was, was because he was trying to be like his father. To live up to his idol. If his father was wrong, then was he himself wrong? Was his entire life a lie? Was it not easier to look at Loki, with his prickly manner, his air of superiority, his general unlikability and blame him for his own troubles? Thor sighed. It was. Much easier. 

He lifted his head and met Fandral’s eyes. Thor had never been one to take the easy path. His own honesty compelled him to face an ugly truth.

“What do I do now, Fandral?”

“You could try listening to him next time, rather than judging him.”

“How can I reach him with Gast’s men keeping me from getting close? If he has a phone I don’t know the number.

It was Fandral who remembered the antiquated landline and suggested Thor try calling the penthouse to speak to Loki. A simple idea which once they located their room’s phone, hidden away in a drawer, worked. Well, it worked somewhat. Loki did pick up the phone. He sounded annoyed when he heard Thor and his reply to Thor’s blurted;

“Were you drugged? You seemed high that morning.”

His was not the answer Thor was hoping for. 

“I’m not drugged you idiot, we had a fight. I was upset. That should have been clear to even an imbecile like you. Now fuck off and don’t call me again.”

Obviously Loki had misunderstood, but when he tried to call back the line was busy. Thor sighed. At least he knew Loki was alright, even if he was still mad at him. 

They went down to lunch accompanied by their two unwanted chaperones who, took the next booth over. Thor tried to ignore them while he and Fandral ate and discussed Thor’s training program. Fandral was all for finding Thor a professional trainer, if they could. His experience in the field was limited and he knew nothing about the available coaches in the area. He didn’t want Thor going in to the fight unprepared. They were still debating the question after they returned to the room. A knock on their door proved to be one of their guards, who handed them a list of names and phone numbers. 

Fandral had been against calling any of them, but Thor, an enthusiast of boxing since childhood recognized one of the names. He was adamant that they call, swearing to Fandral that the man was incorruptible. A quick search of the internet brought a history of great fighters and a stellar reputation. It also brought the fact that the guy was in his nineties and hadn’t trained any one in over two decades. Thor called anyway and after a bit of cajoling, the man said he’d think about it. To Fandral’s surprise he called back within the half hour agreeing to train Thor and naming his price. Modest enough considering the short time they had. They would leave for his home early tomorrow.

Thor still wished to connect with his brother and asked Fandral to intercede on his behalf. Knowing how badly he’d failed in person, Fandral bribed one of the waiters to take a note and hoped for the best. While waiting for an answer they decamped to the casino where Thor wasted away the afternoon and his father’s money at the gaming tables. It wasn’t until they were eating a late dinner that Loki sent a curt reply agreeing to see his brother in the morning.

Thor returned to the casino with his mood and luck both improved. He was cashing in his most recent winnings when he spotted En moving across the lobby. The tall silver haired man was distinctive even from the back. It was no surprise to see the bastard had his arm around a leggy dark haired woman in lace stockings and a black silk dress that hugged her tight little ass before flaring out to a short skirt. He heard Fandral’s low whistle of appreciation and had to agree. She was slightly taller than Gast in her high heeled boots. Her head was tilted toward him as he whispered something in her ear and it was obvious they were having an intimate conversation. Thor was halfway across the lobby to confront the cheating son of a bitch before something about the woman’s gait struck him as familiar. As the pair passed under a bright light he realized her braided hair was dyed a dark green. 

Thor’s steps and mind came to a screeching halt. He watched in a kind of horror as the women he’d been ogling turned with her escort toward the doors and became his younger brother. It was clear Loki wasn’t trying to pass as a woman despite the dress. It was fitted across his pecs and outlined the hard planes of his chest and the lean muscles of his abdomen as if it were paint, instead of cloth. As Thor's eyes inadvertently dropped lower, his brother’s package was on display as well, the silk so tight, he might as well have been wearing nothing at all. Thor jerked his gaze back up only to see the sparkle of jewelry and the glitter of cosmetics on Loki’s face. His makeup highlighted the masculine sharpness of his cheekbones and jaw and made his eyes look as cruel and wicked as his red painted lips. The thin leather sleeves of an abbreviated jacket only emphasized the muscles of his arms as it clung like a second skin. 

Fandral's softly breathed “Oh fuck.” Echoed Thor’s confusion. 

The chatting pair hadn’t noticed either of the Aesir and turned away to climb into an antique car, En taking the wheel. Thor lost no time in charging after them and pushed a woman out of the way, to grab a taxi. The handful of bills he shoved at the driver ended any protest. Fandral was at the open door.

“Thor what are you doing?” He cried.

“I’m looking after my brother. What can he be thinking taking Loki out in public dressed like that? Either get in or close the door.”

Fandral hesitated, then when Thor reached across for the door handle he climbed into the cab. The cabby obediently followed Thor's direction to ‘follow that car’ with a laugh, asking if they were private detectives. Thor ignored the question.

“This is a bad idea, Thor, a very bad idea.” Fandral said in a low voice.

“You didn’t have to come along.”

“Who else will keep you out of trouble? Honestly Thor, what do you hope to accomplish, other than further alienating Loki?”

“I intend to see that my brother comes to no harm. Did you not see how that… that.. lecher has him dressed?”

“Rather.” Was Fandral's uncharacteristically short answer.

“Well?”

“Well what? We’re not the fashion police. While his choice of clothing is somewhat outre, I doubt it is illegal.”

“It’s not him Fandral. You know how Loki dresses. Every inch covered in multiple layers. I've not seen him in short sleeves since he was a child.”

“He isn’t wearing short sleeves tonight.” Fandral pointed out.

“You know what I mean.” Thor growled back. It was clear that Fandral's attempt at humor was not appreciated.

“Perhaps he feels more comfortable here expressing himself than he did at home. If you think about it, he is covered. He’s not showing an inch of bare skin, except for his face and fingers.”

“Enough Fandral. I will see to his wellbeing.”

Fandral shut his mouth and leaned back in the seat. He hoped that he would be able to prevent Thor from making a scene. That, after all was why he’d decided to come with. And not because… he tried lying to himself and gave it up. Prevarication wasn’t his style. The thought of spending the evening watching Thor’s stunning brother in that scandalously beautiful outfit was, without a doubt, the deciding factor in his accompanying him. No matter En’s multitude of sins, that he had convinced Loki to dress in such a manner.. Fandral shifted uncomfortably at the memory of Loki’s pert little ass moving under the tight black silk… He owed the older man a debt of gratitude.

******

Loki glided into the club on En’s arm. He gloried in the appreciative glances they drew. There was no doubt they were an eye catching couple, En with his old school, exquisitely tailored suit and Loki in his little black dress and lace and leather aesthetic. If En was the rich and handsome Sugar Daddy every boy wanted, then Loki was the enticing Sugar Baby every boy wanted to be. Or the one everyone wanted to fuck. He figured it was a toss-up tonight.

When Loki had opened the box with its tissue wrapped contents, the first thing he saw was En’s card. “Make yourself pretty Baby, we are going out dancing. That was a nice surprise. It got nicer when he opened the garment bag and found the thin bit of black silk that resolved itself into a dress made to fit him like a glove. The lace stockings, of supple black silk, the garter belt, and the thong, more silk, only made Loki grin in wicked delight. A small box underneath contained jewelry, a golden industrial, a gold stud for his lip, ear and nose rings of gold , and a matching chain to go from nose to ear. In addition there was an antique cameo on a gold chain and two Victorian hair combs of more gold set with emeralds. Loki added the leather jacket and boots to the ensemble. He decided on a distinctly masculine look for his cosmetics, to contrast with the feminine feeling of the dress and stockings. He was blotting his lipstick when he heard the elevator followed by En’s voice. 

“Lolo, Honey, let's get a look at you.”

The stunned look on En’s face was worth the trouble of shaving his legs, braiding his hair and the time it took him to perfect the new style of makeup.

“Baby, you are enthralling… I could eat you up.” En nuzzled Loki’s ear when he came into his embrace. “What say we do all our dancing right here.”

Loki laughed and playfully shoved him away. 

“You promised we were going out, En. No out, no dancing.” 

“You are a cruel taskmaster, Kitten. I knew I shouldn’t have let you have your own way.” En answered on his way into the shower. 

Loki smiled at the memory, if standing up to En was going to earn him beautiful clothing and a night on the town he would do it more often. He glanced over at his escort as they were seated. There was a purplish bruise complete with four tiny stitches on En’s right cheek. The mark of Loki’s rebellion written in his flesh. Loki liked how it looked and hoped it would leave a scar. It made En look rakish and dangerous. He reached out and touched his cheek under the stitches. En caught his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm.

“Don’t get any ideas Kitten. You wouldn't like the consequences.” 

His eyes above his smiling mouth were cold and hard. Loki shivered in a delicious combination of fear and lust. 

“Promise, Lover?” He asked.

En’s answer was to slide his hand up Loki’s skirt and give his balls a painfully tight squeeze. He didn’t remove his hand afterward. Loki sighed. En was going to play with him all night, keep him obviously aroused to both show him off and show his power. Loki looked around the club and frowned for a second. What were they doing here? He turned his head away to watch the dancers crowding the floor, gyrating to the pounding beat. A waiter appeared with cocktails and En took a sip while he palmed Loki’s cock through the thin silk of the thong.

“Dancing?” Loki asked, watching two men almost fucking as they moved against each other, their hips grinding and bare chests rubbing. 

“Not my style Lolo. Wait for the next set. You do know how to ballroom dance don’t you? Not just this… this fervent jumping about. Its sexy and all, but….” 

En trailed off as one of the guys slide to his knees and rubbed his face down the other’s thigh only to rise gracefully back to his feet.

“I can dance.” Loki answered. “Waltz, foxtrot, samba,several of the ballroom dances. We were taught as part of our training. “A prince should be as able to lead a dance, as lead a charge”, our dancing instructor once said. I’m rather good at the tango if I do say so myself.”

“Tango? Hmmm. I may take you up on that.”

“Only if I lead.”

“Oh, someone is getting too big for his britches.”

“I’m not wearing britches, En.” Loki pointed out, and ran his own hand up En’s thigh. “If you don’t wish to dance to the more enthusiastic numbers, do you mind if I do?”

“Not at all Honey. Knock yourself out.” En gave his cock a last stroke.

Loki stood up and kissed En on his unmarked cheek. He stalked onto the dance floor like he owned it, head high and eyes daring anyone to approach. He raised his arms over his head, showing off his chest as he swayed to the music. He’d spotted Thor and Fandral at the back of the room, trying to be inconspicuous in a back booth. It was ridiculous, Thor’s obvious discomfort made him stand out like a bull in a herd of deer. Fandral had his hand on Thor's arm and was speaking rapidly, but Thor kept shaking his head as though his friend was an annoying fly. What the hell did Thor think he was doing in a gay nightclub? His scowl and tense body language was off putting. Anyone who’d admired his physique when he’d first come in was now giving him and Fandral the coldest of shoulders. 

Whatever they were doing here Loki intended to give them a show. He smiled encouragingly at a muscular man in a cropped t-shirt and turned his back moving his hips to the lively beat. A pair of heavy hands slid around his waist and the man was moving with Loki, his jean covered groin pressed against Loki’s ass. En gave him a questioning look from their table. Loki inclined his head and rolled his eyes toward his brother. En’s answering grin was all the permission Loki needed as he worked his butt against his dancing partner’s hips. He leaned back as the man mouthed up his neck and his hands slipped lower. Loki covered the big hands with his own and the guy took the hint and kept them above his cock. 

“You two exclusive?” The guy asked. 

Loki leaned back and whispered, “Sorry dear, we are.”

“Change your mind, you let me know.”

“You’ll be the first, handsome.” Loki said.

The hands wandered up his stomach and over his chest. He turned and faced the guy and they danced hip to hip, rubbing against each other. The hands were around his waist again and he didn’t stop as they wandered down to cup and squeeze his ass. He did the same and was pleased at the hardness and heft of the burly brunette’s butt cheeks. The glimpses of Thor looking like he swallowed a bag of lemons only added to Loki's enjoyment.

When the song ended the guy tried for a kiss but Loki turned his head and all he got was a quick peck on the cheek. Loki danced with two other partners, a slim black man who topped his six foot one height by a few inches even in the boots and moved with the unhurried fluidity of a warm river. He made neither proposition nor advances and had Loki been alone, he would had offered to spend some time together. His last partner was a cute little blond who barely came up to his shoulder, but was energetic and smiling and smelled wonderfully of wood smoke and spice. Loki did give him a kiss that was returned with interest, before he rejoined En at their table. He glanced over at where Thor was attempting to hide his face behind the drink menu. The bits Loki could see were scarlet. 

“What are they doing here?” En asked.

“Thor is undoubtedly trying to protect my virtue and Fandral is trying to keep Thor from making a fool of himself. A vain effort in my experience.”

“Which one Baby?”

Loki laughed and took a sip of his drink. “Both. I have no virtue left to protect, and Thor was born a fool and if he lives to be a hundred, he will still die one.”

“That’s a little harsh, Kitten.”

“The truth often is. It doesn’t matter, they are leaving in the morning. For a few weeks at least. Thank the gods they’ll be too far out to bother me. Apparently there is no cell service or internet where they intend to reside.”

“Ah, yes, about that…” En smiled, “You should thank me instead of God, Lolo.”

“You? How?” Loki asked. 

He retouched his makeup and tucked in a stray lock of hair.

“I sent them a list of gyms and coaches. Most of them won’t take on an amateur and the few that will… let’s just say it's amazing how bad cell reception is in these mountains.”

“So you arranged for them to be off the grid. Why?” 

Loki’s voice was flat, his expression cold. He wondered what En was up to and what the price tag was going to be.

“Honey, don’t look at me like that.” En captured his hand. “I know you have all these plans… you’re so industrious… and your brother, he has a habit of getting in the way. I thought you’d be pleased.”

“I am pleased.” Loki stated. “What more?” With En there was always more.

“I don’t know why I bother trying to be nice when you, when you don’t appreciate the effort.” He actually pouted, to Loki’s amazement.

“Don’t try that shit on me En. You are only nice when you choose to be. You don’t do it for me. This whole show is so you can tell yourself what a magnanimous fellow you are. Or its to show off your newest toy. It's not that I don't appreciate it, Love,” Loki dropped his voice on the endearment. He was happy to see the furrow between En’s eyes relax. “It’s that I’m not falling for it. You’re an utterly ruthless bastard and you are not going to lure me into complacency with some pretty babbles and a night out. What more?”

En leaned back slide his arm over Loki’s shoulders and grasped his braid, pulling his head back with a sharp tug and baring his throat. 

“You really need to work on those trust issues, Lolo.” He said. Then dipped his head to kiss up Loki’s throat, over his chin and to his parted lips. Loki sighed at the show of force and threaded his fingers in En’s silver hair. He returned the kiss and for a few minutes conversation was forgotten as they each drank of the other’s mouths. Lips pressed and opened, tongues probed and caressed and in Loki’s case sharp little nips were given as they fought a softer battle.

En broke the kiss and smiled smugly.

Loki grinned and licked a tiny crimson smear from En's lower lip. “What else?”

En sighed, drew out his cigarette case and took his time lighting one. He passed it to Loki, took out a second and lit it. He finally breathed out a plume of smoke and shrugged. 

“For one, we have our own plans involving the hotel, Baby. I don’t want your seductively handsome brother or his more intelligent sidekick sniffing around while you are… making sure they go smoothly. By the way, when he hasn’t been trying to keep your brother from starting a brawl, Errol has been looking at you with all the reserve of a fox eyeing a plump chicken.

“For another?” Loki said ignoring the remark. Why En was determined to be jealous of Fandral’s harmless gallantries was beyond him. 

“This little thing you’re planning with Assburg...this brouhaha… it’s that war, war can be an opportunity. If you know when it's going to happen, before it happens.”

“It won’t come to a war. The Aesir will flee once they see that there is real resistance to their rule. They have lived so long unchallenged, they will be terrified once it becomes clear that they can’t win. There will be days of Odin’s propaganda as he tries to twist the truth to serve his lies. Why would he chance a war? Even the army is made up of commoners. Only the officers are Aesir.” 

Loki laughed.

“Aesir. Do you know what that means? It means gods. That is how they see themselves. As gods above the petty concerns of ordinary people. I can’t wait to see them knocked out of heaven and down into the mud.”

“War, regime change, whatever. A few investments in the right places and a guy could be set up for life.”

“En, you already are set up for life. What do you need more money for?”

“Honey, I don’t need it, but I’d be a fool to let the chance just slip away. Especially since you’re assuring me it’s a sure thing.”

Loki felt the threat in his words. If Asgard didn’t collapse, then En stood to lose. Just how much, Loki didn’t know. This was the blade hidden in the helping hand. Loki smiled coldly. 

“It will fall En. Because of their lies and beliefs and myths it will fall. Odin was a fool to name me Loki Laufeyjarson and think I was not destined bring about Asgard’s destruction.”

“Hmmm, Lolo. I don’t mean to knock your beliefs, but I don’t trust your destiny.

“Trust my rage.”

“I love it when you talk dirty, Kitten. Let’s dance.”

*****

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/28806674@N08/47356409721/in/dateposted/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with a picture by request.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dancing and talking and a bit of romance. Loki is conflicted. There's some porn too.

Jessie J’s ‘I’m Burning Up’’ was just starting when En took him onto the dance floor. Not what Loki had expected when asked about ballroom dancing, but the older man led him in a fast paced cha-cha. The steps came back as he caught the rhythm. En knew what he was doing and Loki was enjoying himself in a way he hadn’t for years. There weren’t that many people on the floor and they moved freely, En leading. Loki knew the follow from years of helping Thor practice. But this was so much better. Playful and fun and sexy. En for once wasn’t talking, completely focused on the dance, grinning at Loki, as he spun him around the room. 

Loki laughed out loud when the Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ came on for the Tango. The lyrics could have been written for them. He took the lead and the dance was one part fight as the violence under their skins came out in the steps. Coming together too hard, hands grasping too rough, teeth bared in smiles that were close to a snarl. They switched lead halfway through and En dipped Loki low enough his braids brushed the tiles. Loki found it arousing as hell. En kissed his lips with bruising force when the song was over. 

They sat out the next dance, catching their breath. Loki took time to reset the combs and let his stirring cock settle down. The drink helped and En, for once, seemed content to hold his hand. Loki glanced to Thor and Fandral’s table. An Asian couple had taken their place. Loki let go of a tension he didn't know he had. He was glad Thor had cleared out without a problem. Maybe there was hope that his brother might leave him to live his life in peace. Loki smiled wryly. At least as much peace as life with En promised. He blinked at that thought. Since when did a week of fun and games suddenly become a life? Loki glanced over at the older man in confusion, only to meet a pair of golden eyes that were gazing at him as if he was the most beautiful thing in the world. Loki dropped his eyes and took a swig of his cocktail, to cover his turmoil.

When Pink’s ‘Glitter in the Air’ came up En took him back out to slow dance. Loki laid his head on En’s shoulder and let the words wash over him. They hit too close to home. 

“...closed your eyes and trusted, just trusted…  
....Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, "I just don't care?”...

Fuck! He was not falling for this evil bastard. But gods this felt so good. 

“...Will it ever get better than tonight? …” 

Loki shut his eyes, those were not tears he felt on his cheeks. The longing was almost overwhelming and he wanted so bad to let his guard down.

“...you call me sugar…” 

“He calls me Honey,” Loki thought. “He calls everyone that. But not Kitten. The way he says it, that’s mine alone.” 

“You look beautiful tonight, Kitten.” En said, echoing Loki’s thoughts.

“Not bad yourself, Old Man.” Loki answered, trying to keep the bantering light.

Except Old Man wasn't derogatory anymore. It had become a pet name, and caught in his throat so hard he had to swallow, before he could take a shaky breath. If En noticed, he made no comment. 

The song ended and at a signal from the DJ, the other dancers flooded the floor. Loki felt no urge to join them. He wanted to sit and talk to En and sip drinks and hold hands. He asked En about the stitches, which turned out to be Dr. Strange’s work and then asked how his champion was doing. He was;

“Coming along fine. He's gonna give Blondie a real fight.” 

Which was an opening for Loki to voice his concerns or try to influence En, but he suddenly didn’t want to. This was his night, and with his brother gone from the club, he didn’t want to think about him anymore. Instead he spoke of his excitement about going on stage the next evening. He told En about a couple of new tricks he’d come up with and how he’d modified others for the venue. En mentioned he’d hired a videographer to record Loki’s first show. 

“So you can see how you look, Baby.” 

Loki was both pleased and a little intimidated. He knew he was good, but was he street performer good or professional magician good? What if his show flopped, would En let him go? That was a lot more worrying then it had been a week ago. The thought of going back on the street, living in cheap rooms and working odd jobs held no appeal. Waking up alone, his heart added. 

Damn he was going all sentimental tonight. He didn’t need anybody. He’d been on his own most of his life. Attachments were a burden, he didn’t have to tolerate them any longer. They were a trap. This thing with En was only about sex. Sex in exchange for room and board and a chance to grab the career of his dreams. That's all it was. He was En’s boy to hang off his arm and make the old fuck look good.

Long fingers cupped his chin and turned his head.

“Lolo, you are think, think, thinking and I’m not liking it. Your shoulders are all tensed up Kitten. You wanna tell me what's wrong?”

“Nothing. Just a bit nervous about tomorrow’s show.”

“Honey, you’ll be fine, no worries. Any problems and we can fix them. That's why the video, to... uh... find areas that might need improvement.”

En jokingly raised his hands as if to ward off an attack. “Not that I think you do, need improvement that is. I’ve seen you rehearse, but you know audiences, well.... you can never tell what they’ll like. So don’t get yourself all worked up.”

Loki looked at En. He’d said “ _we_ can fix them.” Not, "if you were any good you’d get it right the first time". Not even, "you will have the chance fix any problem".

“Do you mean that?” Loki asked. “ _We_ will fix any problems?”

“Sure baby. Lighting, sound, stage management I got it. You’ll have to do the magic stuff, I can’t help you there. But I can take care of the rest.”

“Why? Protecting your investment?”

“It's not always about money Lolo. Sometimes it's about people. You’re one of my people. I take care of my own, Baby. I told you that.”

“As long as they make a profit.” 

En’s eyes narrowed. His hand tightened on Loki’s and he leaned forward to whisper in his ear in a low voice.

“Baby, I am gonna have to take you over my lap for that.”

Loki caught his breath as En’s threat went straight to his groin.

En continued and Loki could hear the smile in his words now.

“I am going to push that skirt up and spank your sweet little butt until it is so hot I could fry an egg on it. Because Kitten, you need to understand something. You are mine. No matter if your show flops or your war fails or your brother becomes as annoying as a insurance investigator. Not even if you fuck up the fire, Loki. Mine. You understand?”

En leaned back but his hand was crushing Loki’s fingers so tightly he was afraid they were going to break. Still he had to push back. He had too. No matter if he was going to lose everything.

“What if I don’t want to be yours?”

En laughed. “If you didn’t want to be here Baby, you would have walked after that first night.” 

“If I change my mind?” 

“You won’t.”

“But if I do? What then? What will happen to me?”

En tilted his head, let Loki’s hand go. He considered the younger man for a few minutes. 

“You want to go Loki, you go. Simple as that. I got a few rules. You don’t disrespect me, you don’t betray me, you don’t fuck around on me. Anything else, we can work on.”

“What kind of anything else?” Loki asked. 

“You’re just full of questions tonight… Let’s see. You don’t steal from me, my business or my customers,” He looked hard at Loki. “Again.”

“I...” Loki stopped. Was lying considered betraying?

“Cameras Kitten. Brushing against a man once might be an accident, though we both know it wasn’t, but twice? Nice trick returning his wallet. I gave him a free night's stay and two hundred dollars in chips because he didn’t know how much he’d lost. Wasn’t even sure he hadn’t spent it.”

“En I, I’m sorry I just, I needed to get out and I didn’t have any money.”

“It’s okay, Baby, he lost it all at the slots and another five hundred at blackjack. Just don’t do it again. I’d hate for you to get something broken. You need a loan you let me know.”

Loki nodded. En wasn’t kidding about the ‘something broken’, so he wasn’t going soft on him. That was good.

“Don’t lie to me about anything important.”

“Define important.” 

This was starting to turn into a game again and Loki liked that.

“You’re a smart boy, you’ll figure it out.”

“If I don’t?”

“Then Honey, there’ll be consequences.”

“You consider your business and your people important, right?”

“See, like I said smart boy.”

“I leave you and yours alone and anything else is Okay?”

“I don’t want you to stop being you, Kitten.” En said and smiled at Loki. 

“My dancing with those other men didn’t bother you?” 

“I got to watch you get all worked up, so why would it? Just don’t take it beyond dancing and a few kisses Loki and we’re good.”

“I wouldn’t want to. They can’t do to me what you can, Old Man.”

En chuckled, “And what’s that Baby?”

“Piss me off so much I want to put a knife in your ribs.” Loki brushed his lips across En’s wounded cheek. “And rouse me so much I want you to fuck me over this table.”

En took his hand and pulled Loki to his feet so roughly their chests bumped. The music had changed again and the floor was clearing. 

“You are a wicked, wicked boy Lolo.”

“That’s why you love me.” Loki rejoined without thinking.

En slid his arm around Loki’s waist and led him in the first steps of a foxtrot to the strains of Beyoncé’s cover of “Fever.”

“Could be Loki. Could be.”

Loki lost himself in dancing, the music was a slow pulse in his blood and he let En guide him through the steps. The songs slid one into another. It was strange to move in dances he’d loved as a boy to the modern melodies. He’d once danced to secret dreams of being in the arms of another man. Childish dreams, he had thought and banished them to the realm of his other fantasies. But now that dream was true. It was a fitting segue from his thoughts when strains of Hayley Westenra’s Dark Waltz filled the room with ethereal sound. Loki gazed into En’s golden eyes, caught in the strange sad magic of the song. He didn’t want the night to end. This was his night no matter what the dawn brought. The song drifted to its close and he hung on En’s shoulder. 

“Take me home, En.” He said. When had the penthouse become home? He wasn't going to think about that. All he was going to think about was how good En's hand felt on his side, his arm around his waist. How good he smelled, and the way his cheek was both soft and rough with stubble at the same time. His thick beard never tamed, however often he shaved. The way his voice speaking inconsequential nothings soothed Loki. He spent the drive back to the hotel with his arm around En's shoulder, kissing his neck and nipping his ear and being told he was a nuisance and was going to cause an accident. But it wasn’t serious. Not when the words were belied with strokes on his thigh, and returned kisses at every red light and stop sign. 

It wasn’t heated and passionate but slow and sweet and gentle. They held hands in the elevator and Loki gazed at En’s profile while En stared straight ahead at the doors. Loki knew it was a habit, like the way he always let go of Loki’s hand before the door opened. How he bent his knees slightly and squared his shoulders and rested his weight on the balls of his feet. Ready for a fight. He chattered and smiled and was so amusing, that if he wasn’t looking for it he wouldn’t notice. En was always watching, scanning the area for threats, maybe for weakness, The only time he stopped was when they were alone together in the penthouse. 

The door opened En did his quick check of the room, glance right, left. He opened the closet and hung up his jacket. Opened the bathroom and washed his hands. Loki saw the tension leave his body as En returned and locked the elevator door, the ritual complete. He went to the bar, poured out a shot of whisky and took it over to where Loki lounged on the bed. He held the glass and Loki took a small sip, the smoky taste cutting through the remnants of the cocktail. En sipped, set the glass down on the nightstand and took Loki’s face between his hands. 

The kiss was slow and deep. No fierceness in it and Loki returned it in a state of wonder. He helped Loki take off the tight leather jacket and then put a hand on his chest giving him a light shove. Loki lay down at the pressure. He watched En unlace his boots and pull them off. En took his own shirt off and Loki gazed at him. There was a warm feeling of affection at his chest and shoulders. He could see the way En's body relaxed, the taunt muscles loosening. His eyes warmer, his smile easy and sleepy. They were little things for Loki alone to have, this softer En who held him when he was lost, who stroked his hair when nightmares disturbed his sleep. This was the man who drew hearts on the notes he left for Loki. 

“Make love to me.” Loki said. 

En's lips quirked in the hint of a smile. “You sure Kitten?”

“Yes.” 

Strong slender fingers slid up Loki’s long legs, over the lace and the garters, pushing the skirt of his dress above his hips, baring the the almost transparent thong. Loki wasn’t physically aroused, but he was entranced watching En touch him. He loved the contrast of the older man’s bronzed hands on his pale skin. The almost reverent way he bent his head to kiss the hollow of Loki’s hip. His hands smoothed the silk over his stomach and up his chest. His thumbs paused to play with the bars in Loki’s nipples and Loki made a little moan. En moved to kneel between his thighs and his eyes glittered in the low light. He breathed a worshipful, ”Beautiful.” that made Loki’s heart ache. He shut his eyes and shivered in a helpless, broken despair.

“I can’t.” Loki whispered to himself. His body reacted to En’s hands on his chest, his blood pulsing in nipples and groin. When the older man took his mouth in a gentle kiss, his lips felt the same flush of heat. 

“Can’t what,” Lolo?” En said kissing Loki’s cheek and jaw, and then his lips traveled wam and soft and hungry down the length of his throat.

Loki raised his hands and laced his in the silver waves, his body arched to meet En’s caress. 

“This, I can’t. You’ll .... I can’t.” 

How could he put into words without betraying himself. I can’t trust you, I can’t love you. I’ll shatter when you turn away from me. I’ll break into a thousand pieces when you grow bored of this game and tell me what you really think. I know what I am and I can’t bare to hear it from your lips. Use me, hurt me, let me be your whore, your fuck toy, but please don’t make me fall in love with you. 

“I got you Baby… it’s ok….let go... I won’t let you fall.”

En mouthed his nipples through the silk and Loki gasped in pleasure, almost sobbed at his words.

“It’s too late,” Loki thought. “I’m falling and falling and there’s no net, no one to catch me and I don’t care! I don’t care! I want this!”

“Hurt me,” is what he said. 

Because he could take the physical pain. Familiar and deserved and at least something he could feel, that wouldn’t ache in the way this unbearable gentleness did. 

“Make me hate you!” he added, which was way too revealing and he wanted to snatch the words out of the air. 

But En did neither, his mouth nuzzling down to Loki’s navel and then lower, under the raised skirt to where his cock throbbed in the tight embrace of the thong. The heat of his lover’s breath on the silk covered shaft was sweet, and his need burned in him.

En lifted his head and looked in Loki’s wet lashed, pleading eyes.

“Not tonight Loki. You need this. It’s not what you want Kitten, never about what you want.” En’s fingers curled around the straps of the thong and pulled the wisp of material off, baring his hardening cock. A finger delicately traced down the underside of Loki’s shaft.

“I can’t En, please, beat me. I need that.” He was vulnerable and open and he hated it. Shivering and frightened that En could read him so well.

“No, Baby. You need this. You need to be cherished tonight.” 

En lay on his chest between Loki’s thighs. He kissed the head of his straining cock, the tender place just beneath the ridge, the raised line of his urethra, all the way down to his balls. Loki moved under the soft full lips. En was so warm, hot even, his touch felt like the sun on Loki’s chilled skin. He moaned when his balls were drawn into that heated mouth, each one sucked so carefully there was no threat of discomfort. His hands tightened in the coarse hair and he whimpered. He wanted, without knowing exactly what he wanted any more. 

“Don’t stop…” he begged

En chuckled “I hadn’t planned on it, Honey.”

Loki's thighs were lifted and pushed to his chest and En said.

“Ah…. that’s so… great... just great. So open for me, so pretty... Hold yourself like that, Kitten.”

Loki did, his hands moving from En’s head to rest behind his own bent knees. En reached of a pillow pushed it under his butt, eyed him, and added a second pillow so Loki’s weight was resting on his shoulders, his ass up at an angle.

“I can do this” he thought. “He’s either going to fuck me or toy with my ass. That’s all.”

Then En got up off the bed and walked into the bathroom, leaving Loki spread open and vulnerable and alone. 

“Fuck!” he cursed, but he didn’t move. 

Not even when he heard the sound of water running, though he did turn his head to watch En’s progression back to the bed, a washcloth in his hand. It was hot and wet on his ass, on his perineum and pressed into the rim of his anus.

“You did cleanup everywhere didn’t you?” En asked as the cloth wrapped finger was worked a little deeper.

Loki was annoyed at En’s new fetish for cleanliness. The constant hand washing last time, the fucking need to have him douche out his butt before playing with him. It triggered the uncomfortable feeling that he was dirty, that what they were doing was dirty and wrong. The anger he felt was familiar. An armor against sentiment.

“If you’re asking did I run warm water up my asshole when I took the shower, the answer is yes.” He snarled. “I also brushed my teeth, so you can put your dick there without fear you’ll be contaminated.

En set the washcloth aside. “Don’t hiss at me Kitten. I’m not about to risk either of our health by doing something stupid.”

A squirt of something cool hit his hole and a finger rubbed it into his rim. He started at the feeling of cold followed by a not unpleasant tingle. Then En lay back down, put his hands on the back of Loki’s thighs and kissed between his legs. His mouth was hot and wet and moved from just behind Loki’s balls all the way down to his asshole, puckered from the cold. When that toungue liked warm over the rim, Loki cried out at the intimate caress. That he would do this, Loki had never expected. En was a top, a dominant. He took, he used, he didn’t give. Loki had never allowed anyone to rim him. It was too dirty, too taboo. He’d never be able to look at the person without disdain in his eyes. 

But fuck it felt good, even more so because it made him deeply uncomfortable that it was En’s tongue licking in wet laps over his rim. En’s lips pressed to kiss his asshole. A man he respected was rimming him, licking him. No wonder he’d been adamant about getting Loki clean. He squirmed and moaned and shuddered in a disconcerting pleasure. His mind churned, unable to fit the image of his refined, powerful, lover with the fact that his tongue buried in Loki’s ass. His unease was from the hateful doctrine that Doctor Athanasios had driven into his flesh and mind. A doctrine he'd believed he'd eradicated. Loki’s head wirled with the confusion of remembered words and his own thoughts, then En hummed and he just shut down and felt.

Loki forgot himself in the intense feeling of wet licks, and a sucking mouth that moved up to tease his ball,s and caress his cock and back down to make his hole share the same pulse of heat. He let go of everything and let En do as he would. Only reacting to the touch without thought or judgement. He knew the older man could feel his him submit and Loki no longer cared. En’s voice was thick and deep and he relaxed into the sound.

“That’s my good boy, just like that… Feels good doesn't it?” 

Loki knew on some level that was a question and required an answer but all he could manage was to moan louder, words were beyond him. En’s strong fingers encircled his cock and the stroking, sliding pressure was too good, too much. His own hands clenched into the tendons at the back of his knees as he writhed, overwhelmed. The hot tongue licking, the soft lips that kissed, giving all to him and taking all from him. Nothing was forbidden anymore. En's hand worked faster and Loki didn’t know how to move. He wanted to thrust into his lover’s hand and mouth at the same time. He was panting, the tension building to an impossible level. He twisted in frustration. Oh gods his body demanded pain. Just a little to push him over the edge. The ache brought words to his lips and he begged.

“Hurt me! Please, Please! I need it! oh fuck, En please. It's too much. I can’t take this.”

The older man lifted his head, met Loki’s fevered gaze. His eyes went cold and hard and Loki’s heart jumped into his throat to be so vulnerable in this killer’s arms. 

“No. Loki. You can take it, and you will take it.”

The words were like and electric shock, and when En’s tongue delved back into his ass, when his hand squeezed and stroked up his shaft. Loki’s head slammed back into the mattress. His abs tightened and the spoken denial was all it took to drive him over the edge. He came hard, loved, cherished and lost. So lost he’d never find himself again. Waves of sensation flooded his senses, soft wet touches and firm expert strokes and the low level ache in his back from being stretched into this position. Good and bad and too, too much. His cock jerked in En’s hand. The release was so sweet, Loki felt like he was melting as his spend wet his belly in slow shuddering spurts. His head lolled, his eyes half closed and his hands slipped from the back of his knees.

En caught his legs, took them on his shoulders and with a smooth thrust of his hips the older man’s lubed cock was sheathed in Loki’s butt while he was still quivering in aftershocks. All he could do was take the heavy cock, too exhausted for the moment to do anything but try to breathe. But his lover required nothing of him but his surrender. En stroked into him, slow and steady. Even that was too much, the over stimulation unsettling. Loki glanced up and their eyes locked and he could not look away, bound by En's possessive hunger. His jaw clenched and tried to relax, but his face showed the struggle. En’s pace increased, his forehead furrowed in concentration and still Loki was caught in his golden brown gaze. Held in this long slow melding, wanting it to end and at the same time not wanting En to pull away. He ached deep inside, uncomfortably full now that he was no longer aroused. His back twinged with every thrust, and he dreaded the muscles going into full spasms. He saw En’s eyes grow soft and unfocused and breathed a sigh of relief, then one of pleasure as En’s full weight pressed into him and the warmth of his cum filled Loki’s ass. En’s eyes fluttering shut, his gasping moan, the little trickle of saliva at the corner of his mouth, those signs as he climaxed were Loki’s secret treasures. 

En lay over him for several deep breaths, until Loki managed to slide his legs from En’s shoulders and almost shove him off. He groaned at the spasm that stabbed through his abused back muscles and stretched out beside En. 

“You’ve ruined my dress.” Loki said, the words fell from his lips without conscious thought.

The older man shook in what Loki first thought was aftershocks and then thought was crying and finally realized was silent laughter. Loki raised up on one elbow and poked En in the side. He wanted to be angry, but all he felt was confusion about why En was laughing at him.

“Ruined your dress.” En chortled. “Oh Baby I am so sorry…” 

Loki caught the silliness, a relief from the storm of his emotions. “I only wore it once. The stains will never come out.” Loki chuckled. “And you split the side seam.”

“I’ll buy you a new one or two or hundred if you like, Lolo.”

“Uh huh. And ruin every one for me?”

“Of course Honey, why else would I buy them?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Loki got freaked because En is being nice to him and he does not trust nice. Plus he's been conditioned to pain as a sexual stimulus. En takes care of his own. Even if Loki doesn't want him to. Hope you like this.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning exercise. Brian extracts a bit of revenge. En asserts his control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited to reflect a detail. Not that important to the plot but it was bugging me.

Loki woke up in the dark, confused as to where he was, traces of a nightmare fogging his mind. His heart hammered until he recognized the outlines of the penthouse against the muted glow of the city lights. En lay next to him, snoring softly. A warm solid presence that dispersed the threatening phantoms of his dreams. Loki looked at him in all his vulnerable unconsciousness. Without the power of his driving personality, En’s age showed in the loose skin at his throat, the mottled color of his hands and the deep lines etched on his face.

“I could kill him while he sleeps.” Loki thought. “I could take a pillow and put it over his face and hold it down until he’s dead.” 

The thought gave him an odd satisfaction, both that En trusted him this much and that, should it become necessary, he had a way out of En’s control. Loki sat up, picked up a pillow and held in in both hands, looking down at his lover’s face. En slept on, oblivious to the threat.

After a moment, Loki plumped the pillow, replaced it, and stretched back out. He touched En’s face, tracing his fingers over the older man’s cheeks. En stirred and batted vaguely at Loki’s hand. Loki ducked under the arm and snuggled against him, resting his head on En’s hairy chest. He was pulled close, his forehead nuzzled. His lover yawned and his breathing slowed and deepened. Soon he was snoring again. Loki smiled.

“I could kill you, you vicious bastard,” he thought, “but I choose to let you live. For today.” 

He sighed happily, closed his eyes and in a moment was back asleep himself.

It was a few hours later when Loki awoke to the sound of En dressing. He stretched, yawned and looked out at the pale dawn light before turning toward his lover, who was pulling a robe on over a tank top and a pair of sweatpants.

“Gods En, it must be six in the morning, what are you doing up at this hour.” Loki stood up and stretched again.

En picked up a gym bag.

“It’s five Kitten. Not everyone gets to laze about in bed all morning.”

“Five? We were up past midnight.”

Loki was digging through his own belongings, hunting for his own workout clothes of gi pants and a t-shirt.

“Whatcha doing, Honey?”

“I want to come with you. I’ve never had the chance to watch you spar.”

The clothes were in the bottom of his bag, wrinkled and sweat stained. Loki pulled them on anyway. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t be in the same condition after ten minutes of exercise.

“You didn’t get enough yesterday?” En asked, as Loki found a hair tie and secured his hair out of his eyes.

“I got the feeling you were holding back.”

En waited for him at the elevator and they rode down to the basement.

“If I hadn’t Lolo, you would be in the hospital.”

Loki kissed En’s cheek under the stitches.

“You are so sweet to me, En Dwi Gast.” He tilted his head and brushed his fingers over the wound. “I hope this leaves a scar.”

“If it does I’ll give you a matching pair.” 

Loki’s laughter rang across the gym as the elevator doors opened.

Brian was waiting and directed Loki to the free weights while En donned gloves, knee pads and helmet. The two men squared off and it was evident from the start that neither was holding back. The flurry of blows, blocks and counter blows was so furious it took Loki by surprise. They traded kicks and punches in a mixed martial arts style that was both brutal and beautiful. Brian was powerful and fast but En was precise and calculating. Loki realized it was he who taught Brian to fight, and the younger man was equally matched if not bettered. Loki watched in fascination, his heart beating fast. 

He’d always enjoyed watching the fights at summer games, as much as he disparaged the participants. There was something enthralling about two powerful men, their bodies streaked with dust and blood, circling and punching. The smacks of bone on muscled flesh, the grunts of exertion or pain and the smell of testosterone charged sweat. Loki found it very exciting. It bordered on the erotic. Especially watching Thor, beautiful golden beast that he was, pound the crap out of his opponents. The sheer joy his brother took in his physical prowess was exhilarating. 

For years Loki had tried to pretend his feelings were a shared happiness in his brother’s conquests. Recently he’d admitted to himself that he had an animal attraction to Thor’s body, which had nothing to do with how he felt about his brother as a person. He had a type and Thor’s body just happened to fit it. There was no need to poke further into that particular can of worms and he’d nailed the lid down tight.

But this morning he could indulge his attraction in full. He was doing squats while his lover sparred. The way the cloth slid over his skin, the burn in his thighs and abdomen all added to his pleasure. The way En moved, quick short steps, forcing Brian to exert himself, to bring the fight to En, reminded Loki how En had herded him into the corner. En was fully in charge of the contest. At an unspoken command the two men broke off. 

En nodded toward Loki and Brian walked over. He was suddenly embarrassed that the man would notice his incipient erection, but all Brian did was nudge is feet a little farther apart and place a hand on his back to correct his stance. The bodyguard returned to En without a comment. Before the sparring continued, En gave Loki a once over and a crooked grin that told him the older man knew exactly how their bout was affecting him. Loki made the mature decision to lavishly lick his lips, which earned him a chuckle. 

The two men sparred for the better part of an hour. They took breaks to discuss their moves, En often demonstrating to Brian, though a few times it was the other way around. The workout moved at a faster pace than the training Brian was giving Loki and he was surprised at En’s stamina. 

Loki had finished his weight lifting routine and they switched places, En to the weights and Loki to Brian's tender care. Which was anything but. Brian was still irritated with him about Thor and Fandral and let it show in the way he didn’t hold back on his blows or the speed and power of his holds. When En disappeared into the toilet, Brian threw Loki to the floor and wrenched his right arm back almost to the point of dislocation.

“He’s too soft on you. Don’t hit him again.” Brian said and pushed his shoulder joint harder. Loki’s shriek of pain brought En trotting out of the toilet, still drying his hands. Brian let him go and stepped away.

“What happened?” He asked Brian, while Loki panted on the floor, holding his arm to his chest.

“He fell, badly.” 

“Lolo?”

“I tripped. During a throw. My fault.” Loki gasped.

En’s furrowed brow told Loki he didn’t believe either of them. He helped Loki to his feet and examined his shoulder while Loki winced in pain.

“We’ll have the doctor take a look at it. I don’t think anything is broken.”

“It isn’t.” Brian's clipped answer, seemed to anger En even more. He spun around and got in Brian's face.

“His first show is tonight. You should hope Brian, that your, your… barbaric carelessness will not impede his performance.”

Fuck! Loki thought. How the hell am I supposed to juggle with one hand? How am I going to impress an audience if I won’t be able to do half of my magic?

Brian’s icy words cut across his inner worries. 

“Your whore needed the lesson. He forgets his place.”

For a moment Loki thought the two men were going to come to blows again, this time for real. 

Instead En, whose face was as cold and unreadable as Brian's, said.

“Pack your bag and return to the house to assist Val with Bruce. He's been reluctant to follow her program. See that he understands the importance of his training.”

Brian inclined his head and turned away to pick up the sparring equipment and used towels. En got an ice pack from the small fridge and placed it on Loki's shoulder, tucking it under his shirt. Loki shivered at the cold touch but made no protest. His lips were clamped shut lest he whine at the throbbing pain. En escorted Loki to the elevator, pulled out his phone and called Doctor Strange.

They rode up one floor and En walked a sweating and pale Loki across the private garage. Loki suddenly remembered his appointment with Thor.

“Wait a moment, please. I promised to speak with Thor, before he and Fandral left this morning.” He knew he sounded too frantic, the pain giveing his voice an edge of desperation.

“Baby you need to see the Doc, the sooner the better. Your brother will understand.”

“I gave him my word. It will only take a few minutes.”

“Strange is expecting us, Lolo. I told him we would be there in a half hour. You’re not trying to make a liar out of me are you?”

“En. No, but Thor...”

“Honey, I got the Doc out of bed. He’s taking the time to see you, don’t be ungrateful. Tell you what, I’ll send a message to your brother’s room and you can see him when we get back. Okay?”

“Let me borrow your phone, I’ll call him myself. You don’t have to bother.”

“No bother Kitten. Besides he’s probably not even awake yet.”

Loki stopped walking, which resulted in En bumping his injured shoulder. He hissed in pain and snarled, not sure if that had been accident or intentional.

“Why are you afraid of me talking to Thor?” Loki demanded.

En’s face twisted into a sour expression and he pulled out his phone and handed it to Loki. As he walked away he muttered just loud enough for Loki to hear,  
“I’m beginning to think Brian is right.”

Loki bit back a retort. He was pretty sure that was what En wanted him to do, get in a fight so En could manipulate him into not calling Thor. Which brought up a dilemma. Loki didn’t know if Thor still had the same number or if it would work in America. He tried anyway and got a ‘not in service’ recording. That left calling their room. A call to the front desk, a few minutes wait and the phone rang unanswered. Loki tried a second time and finally had to settle for leaving a message with the concierge. It rankled that En waited, leaning on the hood of the Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet and not bothering to hide his smirk, as Loki did exactly what En had offered to do for him. His minor revolt had earned him nothing. His only other option was to turn around and hunt down his brother. Loki doubted En would be charitable enough to take him to see Doctor Strange after that. His shoulder was aching fiercely. If he didn’t get treatment soon it would lock up and he’d have to cancel his performance. He handed the phone back to En and got into the passenger seat, silent and scowling. En put the car in gear and backed out of the garage, in a moment they were driving through the early morning traffic. En was smiling in victory and reached over and gave Loki’s thigh a squeeze. Loki moved away until he was pressed to the door and looked out the window.

“Hey Kitten don’t sulk. You can’t win every time.”

“I can’t win at all if I’m only your whore.” He snarled, as they pulled up to a red light. 

“Lolo,” En’s voice dropped into the lazy low tone that sent shivers down Loki’s spine. “There is no ‘only’ about it. You are my whore. My slutty, dirty, little whore of a fuck toy. Hmmmm?”

Loki felt his face flame hot at the same time his groin tightened. Anger and lust warred and he glanced over at En with narrowed eyes. “If I’m your whore, than when do I get paid?”

En laughed. “When you earn it, Honey.” He loosened the tie of his sweat pants. “It’s not a long drive, but you have time to suck me off.” 

He leaned back in the seat and freed his cock. Loki glared at him and En grinned, stroking himself into hardness.

“Come on Kitten, you know you want to.”

The light changed and En put both hands on the wheel. Loki glanced at En’s cock, protruding obscenely from the front of his pants. Thank the gods the top was up on the car. He licked his lips. He did want to, damn the bastard. His shoulder hurt but if he turned and lay on his good arm…

“Suck it Baby, be good to Daddy and I’ll use that flogger on your pretty ass.”

That made him shiver with desire twisted around disgust. Loki growled. “Go to hell, old man.” 

He lay across the seat, adjusted the icepack and licked his tongue over the flushed head. En chuckled again and dropped his hand to Loki’s neck. 

“Good boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Porn next chapter, and a visit to the Doctor. Loki's limits keep getting pushed a little farther.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki goes on a trip to the Doctors and a visit with his bro. Angst, so much angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ice pack. En as a fight manager would have applied it immediately. Me as a writer didn't think of it. A miner detail that has no baring on the story, but one I had to correct.

Loki tried, he really did. He liked the way En’s cock felt in his mouth, the weight and sliding stroke on his tongue and the salty, musky taste. He enjoyed the petting touch on his neck and the way En’s insulting words had made him feel shamed and angry and very aroused. He even got off on the thought of being seen by others driving past, though the actual line of sight was obscured for all but the possible passengers of a few trucks. But every little bump on the road, every stop and start and sharp turn, sent a stab of pain into his wrenched shoulder. The ice pack helped to ease the ache, but did nothing to assuage his worries about performing on stage tonight, or the whereabouts of Thor and Fandral. His focus lapsed time and again. En tapped his head twice bringing him back to what he was doing, the third time Loki was distracted, En slipped fingers into his hair and dragged him off his erection. 

“If you’re not paying attention there’s…there’s just no point.”

“I was paying attention.” Loki said, as he sat up. “You try sucking cock when you have to dodge an elbow every time we go around a corner. Why is the steering wheel on this thing so damn big?”

Loki scooted across the seat, away from En and leaned back. He was agitated and unable to settle and wanted, he didn’t know what he wanted. He brought one knee up and rested it on the passenger side door half turned away from the older man. 

En raised an eyebrow in Loki’s direction and pulled the front of his sweatpants up.

“Your lying...you don’t even think about it, do you? It's like, like your automatic response.”

Loki ignored the question, treading on dangerous ground. He know En hated to have his questions unanswered. To his wary surprise, En didn’t push it for once. He was silent the rest of the short drive. They arrived at a plain single story building tucked behind a residential neighborhood. The clinic shared the small structure and a tiny parking lot, with a lawyer's office and a realtor's, both workplaces closed at this early hour.

There was no doctor listed nor posted hours on the clinic’s door, just a ‘by appointment only’ notice. The entrance was unlocked and they went inside, walking past the cracked plastic chairs and Formica counter of the waiting area. The place smelled of alcohol and fake pine scented cleaner. The florescent lights were cold and dim, one flickering in and out with a dull buzzing sound. Their shadows danced on the pale greenish walls to the arrhythmic flashes. The office evoked memories of other rooms, other dimly lighted halls, other days his body was racked with pain. Loki found himself pressed against En’s side, as though the older man could protect him from remembered horrors. There was a loud metallic clatter as something hit the floor and Loki jumped. Dr. Strange’s soft curse from the room ahead of them, didn't ease his tension. Loki knew what happened when the doctors were upset. He stopped, his skin felt cold and he fought the urge to turn and bolt out of the building.

“Woah, Kitten. Easy there.” 

En slipped an arm around Loki’s waist. Loki shuddered and abruptly pulled away. The last thing he needed was to feel restrained. En let him go, for which he was grateful, he had no strength for a contest of wills.

“Don’t touch me.” Loki said. “Not now.”

His voice was flat, his eyes down, hiding his turmoil. He forced himself to take long slow breaths. Tried to focus on the things that weren’t part of his past. It was quiet for one, there was no moaning or muffled crying or distant incoherent screams. There was an unbarred window at the end of the short hall that let in the morning sun for another. He could hear the sounds of traffic and smell En’s sweat and traces of his spicy cologne. Dr. Strange stepped out of the room and that action released Loki from his fear. A doctor clad in short sleeves, khaki pants and causal shoes had no place in his nightmares. He straightened up and glanced at En with narrowed eyes. He knew the bastard had seen his actions, read them. It was only a matter of time until they would be ripped out of him for En’s entertainment. Right now however, all En did was wave him toward the magician.

The exam was efficient, questions asked and answered. His range of movement assessed and a mild strain diagnosed. Dr. Strange made no comment on the bruises that marked his back and sides. He did insist on an x-ray and led Loki to another room. He was arranging Loki on the table when he spoke of something other than the shoulder injury.

“It will only get worse. No matter what he promises, what he buys you, or how he makes it up to you.” Strange said in a quiet, matter of fact voice.

Loki watched him adjust the x-ray cone over his shoulder.

“That’s my business isn’t it? Anyway he wasn’t the one who hurt my shoulder, Brian did.”

“Brian does nothing without orders. You’re not a complete fool, you know that, even if you don’t want to face it.” Dr. Strange went behind the console. “Take a deep breath and hold it.”

The machine buzzed and the doctor came back and re-positioned him silently. Loki felt sick. He wanted to believe in the night before. Wanted to believe that En didn’t order Brian to hurt him. Wanted to believe in a caring En who only hurt him because Loki needed it.

“This show will get me exposure. After a few months of performances I could move on. We have a verbal agreement, I signed no contract for a long run.” Loki countered.

“Move on to where? Vegas? Reno? Back to San Francisco? You walk out on him and he’ll burn your reputation so fast the only work you’ll get is flipping burgers in some dive south of the border.”

The Doctor took the second x-ray and went to check the results on the display screen.

Loki rolled his eyes. This was just another test. He was supposed to ask about options and then the Dr. would talk about betrayal and Loki would be back in deep shit with En having something to hold over him.

“Then it is just as well that I have no wish to leave, isn’t it Doctor?” Loki said in a bored tone as he pulled his shirt back on. “Fix my shoulder and tell En I have no intention of falling for your ploy. He doesn’t have to try my loyalty at every turn. If he sees fit to have Brian hurt me, then he need only tell me." Loki pushed off the table and opened the door. "And Doctor even I can see it makes no sense to do that right before the show. After maybe, but not before.”

Loki walked out of the lab and down to where En waited, smoking a cigarette in violation of the building code. Loki reached for it and took a drag before handing it back.

“Still not leaving.” He said.

En wrinkled his forehead. “Don’t want cha to Baby.”

Dr. Strange came back, gave Loki a shot in his hip, a sling to support his arm and handed him a bottle of pills.

“Rest, ice and try to take it easy tonight. It should be fine in a few days provided you don’t re-injure it.” He stared at Loki as if he could impart knowledge with his eyes.

Loki smirked back. “En will see to me, won’t you Lover?” He turned and nuzzled the older man's cheek.

“Of course, Lolo. I’ll take care of you. I'll take real good care of you.”

The ass grope was a reaffirmation of affection and Loki knew En wasn't irritated at him. They stopped for breakfast at a small diner and Loki popped two of the pain pills. Between them and the shot he was feeling little pain by the time they returned to the hotel. En traded out the now warm pack for an ice bag from the kitchens and after finding that they hadn’t checked out yet, escorted Loki up to Thor and Fandral’s suite. He handed Loki a phone he’d picked up from the concierge.

“You have your little talk with Blondie. Anything goes wrong, you just press this code.” En said. “I’ll be down in the casino going over the uh, uh logistics of your big show.”

Loki knew that ‘big show’ was a reference to his fire plan. He needed to get that tightened up. Right after he dealt with Thor. En had let him coast on it for the last couple of days since Thor’s intrusion, but Loki knew he was impatient and wanted it done. The fall of Asgard would have to wait until he’d finished with En’s project. That En had Dr. Strange probing him for weakness was an indication he was uncertain of Loki’s commitment. He watched En walk away, admiring his stride. Even in sweat pants he managed to look like he owned every foot of ground he trod on. Not even Odin had that kind of presence. The thought made Loki smile and he turned to knock on Thor’s door, disregarding the security officer stationed at the end of the hall.

The door flew open and Thor glared at him. 

“Where the hell have you been?” He barked. “We were supposed to leave an hour ago.”

“Don’t let me hold you up.” Loki said turning around.

Thor’s hand fell on his uninjured shoulder.

“Wait. Loki. What happened to you? Did that bastard hit you again?”

Loki pulled away, anger boiling to the surface. “I thought dear brother, you had something of importance to say. I see now you only begged to see me, so you could further berate me and insult my lover. Fuck off Thor.”

Thor stepped back and held his hands out, a pleading look on his face. It was an expression new enough to Loki that he paused.

“Loki. Please, come in. I’m sorry. I’m worried about you. I won’t say anything against Gast, if you will come in and listen to me.”

Loki glanced beyond Thor. The sitting room was empty which meant Fandral was either in his room giving them time to themselves or elsewhere, possibly explaining their lateness. He considered walking away. It would feel good to leave Thor as the one upset and vulnerable for once, but his whole purpose in agreeing to this visit was to get Thor comfortably settled out of the way. A worried and frustrated Thor was a Thor liable to charge back in at the worst possible moment. Loki sighed, pursed his lips and walked past his brother into the room. Thor shut the door and turned to him, opened his mouth and stopped at Loki’s upraised finger.

“I’ll listen to you on two conditions. First, you make no attempt to try to convince me to go back to Asgard. Second, you do not address how I choose to live my life. You do either one and I walk out that door and I will not speak to you again. Is that understood?”

“I… Yes. Loki I understand.” Thor hung his head. “Is it permitted to ask how you are doing?”

“If that’s code for am I allowing En to beat me, no, it is not allowed.” Loki smiled at the flinch from Thor and the way his mouth tightened to hold in the words he no doubt wanted to spew. “If it’s an honest inquiry into my well being, then you may ask.”

Thor’s voice was tight with emotion.

“How are you doing Loki?”

“Better than I was in Asgard. Surprisingly well considering your efforts to once again ruin my life.”

“I never tried to ruin your life.” Thor said his voice rising again.

“Temper, Brother.” Loki chided. This was fun, baiting Thor and knowing he couldn’t really retaliate. “You are perhaps, technically correct. You stood by and allowed Odin to ruin it and had the insensitivity to tell me how happy you were that he had done so.”

“Loki you know that isn’t true. I…” Thor trailed off at Loki’s thunderous expression.

“I’m sorry brother. You are right. I didn’t stand up to him. And what he did to you was wrong.”

Loki blinked at his brother in shock, he could feel his mouth hanging open and quickly shut it. This was not how the game was supposed to go. Thor was supposed to get angry, lose his temper and stomp out of the room assured in his own righteous indignation. He’d chew on his rage for a few days, put it down to Loki being Loki as he always did and focus on his training. Thor’s pride would see to it that he made no effort to contact his brother. Loki wasn’t sure what to do with a contrite Thor.

“I’ve been blind Loki. I looked the other way for years and I did it because it was easier. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

You idiot, you incredible interfering fool, Loki thought. Now, you want to do this? Are the Norns just laughing at me? Here I am poised to get my revenge and you are going to fuck it all up by your change of heart. Do you even know how many years I’ve waited for this? Waited to hear you say these words? Waited for one sign that you understood the slightest bit of what that bastard did to me?

Loki walked across the room, took a small bottle at random from the minibar, twisted off the lid with his teeth, spat it onto the floor and downed the contents in one go. It burned down his throat with a sickly sweet flavor, but it gave him the moment he needed to pull himself together.

“It is not that easy Thor. You do not get to say sorry and expect my forgiveness.” Loki let his fury rise again. “Words are worthless. Your pretty apologies mean nothing to me.” He turned to face his brother, froze out any sympathy from his expression. “You can stand there and say you regret your actions as long as you wish, but it doesn’t take away one second of what I suffered. Find another way to salve your conscience Thor. I won’t do it for you.”

Thor pulled back as if slapped and Loki took no pleasure in it. His brother’s face closed down. 

“I’m sorry you feel this way.” Thor said.

“How did you expect me to feel Thor?” Loki snarled. “Did you expect me to be delighted that you got your head out of your ass long enough to see what is going on around you?”

“At least one of us has!” Thor shouted. 

“Ah there’s the righteous indignation. For a moment I thought you were an imposter.” 

“Damn you to hell Loki!”

“Too late brother. I’ve already been there.” 

Loki’s grin was all teeth and viciousness. Thor eyed him wearily. He shook his head in exasperation. 

“It’s probably for the best if we don't see each other again.”

“I’m so glad you finally see things my way.” Loki said.

“I…” Thor stopped put his hand out. “Farewell Loki. If you ever need help…”

Loki turned his back. He heard Thor sigh, wait a moment and leave the room. The door closed behind him. They must have already packed up, Loki thought. Fandral must be waiting downstairs for Thor to arrive. In a few minutes they’d be gone. Thor gone to be trained so he could free Fandral from En’s grasp. Thor gone out of his way so he could get his revenge against Asgard and Odin. Exactly as he had planned. Just as he wanted. It was perfect.

Loki stood in the empty room and stared at the picture on the opposite wall. It was a ridiculous cliché of a landscape. Brown barren desert, a cow skull in the foreground and dry faded mountains as distant as a lost dream. There was no reason for it to cause his eyes to blur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised porn and didn't deliver. I was hoping for some good feels but, family, its complicated. There will be more porn but sometimes it has to step aside for plot.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of Loki's plans are coming together. He does some accounting work for En.

The summer passed too quickly for Loki. There was what Loki thought of as the big show, to be sorted out and tested and retested. He conducted experiments on how fast fire would spread through different materials and the way smoke would flow depending on wind and temperature. He loved the complexity of the task and tried to think of possible casualties as only another problem to be solved. The hotel fire would happen at the end of the season. Everything was ready to be put in place and it was only a matter of execution.

His stage show was doing well now. That first night had been a disaster, with limited mobility in one arm he’d had to cut back on his routine at the last minute and his uncertainty in the hasty changes made him look amateurish and awkward. En, true to his word, had recorded the show and together they worked out the problems. As his arm healed Loki had added more extravagant physical elements to the act. He’d continued his workouts, only now En was putting him through his paces. He was in the best physical shape of his life and it showed as he danced, flipped and juggled his way through his routine.

The stage allowed him to do things he would never have considered on the street. That barrier between performer and audience gave him leave to perform daring stunts without fear of either endangering the viewers or of their possible interference during the difficult parts. He learned to use the constraints of a limited line of sight to make his illusions shine. Not that he stayed on stage the whole show. His history of street performance gave him the confidence to work the entire lounge. The patrons loved it, loved his energy and the unexpectedness of his performance. For even though Loki meticulously planned his tricks down to the tenth of a second, he also improvised their presentation. Every night his show was different as he played off his audience. He pulled in a younger crowd and En loved how the lounge filled up every night. Especially as the audience spilled out of the performance jazzed up and ready to hit the casino.

Loki’s relationship with En had entered a calmer phase. The sex was still blazing hot and En pushed him with his psychological head games, but the physical abuse had toned down. Not that Loki didn’t sport an array of bruises most days, but they were superficial and largely confined to the meatier parts of his anatomy. Except for the face slapping. He had a decided liking for that particular element of En’s dominance and would goad the older man into it at least once a week, and often in front of witnesses. After all what was the point of being humiliated if no one else knew about it? 

He traded on the look in his shows, the fragile looking, bruised, boy toy that became an aggressive, dominating master of fire was a transformation that thrilled his audiences. En stopped in to watch more often than not and Loki ended up bent over his dressing table at least twice a week, stifling his yelps and moans lest they be heard during Strange’s set. Several times Loki had done his second show of the evening with a heated flush of sexual energy that had his audience almost panting in their seats. That wet sticky warmth that coated the inside of his pants and trickled down the back of his thighs was a filthy secret he shared with the tall man grinning smugly at the rear of the room. He knew Loki's fastidious nature and the fact that he was both repelled and aroused by En making him wear the evidence of his possession.

The only thing not going to plan was his take down of Asgard. Loki released the information to their enemies and those enemies had been properly cautious, testing it before acting on it. They had however, acted and Asgard’s spy network was now a shambles, with operatives compromised, turned, and drawn from the field or, in a few cases dead. Asgard was also bleeding support from the west, the damning videos spread like wildfire and were universally condemned. Though cooler heads had at first tried to question their veracity, Odin’s stonewalling on the subject had only increased the outcry. The protests against the ruling class, both homegrown and foreign organized were duly covered by cell phones catching the worst of the police response. All this was what Loki expected.

What he hadn’t expected was Odin’s reaction. There was no guileful manipulation of the press, nor rueful statements about how the underclasses were being used by outside forces instead of looking to those who had their best interests at heart. He’d not even given a damn speech pointing out how their enemies’ leaders had deceived their own countrymen at every turn and their lower classes were more oppressed than ever. Odin had instead raged against those protesting, denied they even had the right to voice their concerns and promised draconian punishments for any participants. He’d sent Asgard’s armies to the borders and fortified them by calling home their mercenary troops, breaking dozens of contracts in the process. He’d reinstated the draft and even sent soldiers on raids to drag the unwilling into the army or throw them into the now overstuffed jails. 

In his final press appearance a reporter asked him if it was true his sons were on a diplomatic mission to drum up support. The Odin Loki knew, would have ran with that question and dropped hints of imminent support and new treaties that would have had the western politicians climbing over each other to lend Asgard a hand. Instead Odin had looked straight into the camera and said. “I have no sons.” 

The guilt provoked by that exit line had driven Loki hard into En’s arms. It took three days of beatings and En had to resort to using a single tail on him, before Loki could crawl out of the penthouse and face the world again. En didn’t even mention the lost income from Loki’s week of forced vacation from the stage.

The current situation was a highly charged stalemate. The armies were building on either side of the border, the upper class was spouting patriotic bullshit about fighting for the glory of Asgard and supporting their king till their dying breath, the lower classes were ready to explode into violence at the next provocation and Odin had retreated to the castle. It was going to be a bloody massacre and Loki didn’t know how to defuse it. It didn’t help his state of mind to know that Thor would be soon leaving his training and reentering the world to fight En’s champion. This was all supposed to be over before Thor’s return. Now there was the distinct possibility that Thor was going to be involved if Loki couldn’t bring this to some kind of an end. While his brother might forgive him a bloodless revolution, he’d never forgive Loki for starting an outright war. The suspicion alone would be enough.

En’s gleeful hand clapping as he checked his foreign investments was the only good thing to come out of the mess. If it was good. Loki was conflicted about how he felt that En was making money on the results of his miscalculations. The massive arms proliferation was not what he imagined would happen. That En had known it would, made Loki realize how little he knew about human nature. He’d predicted the mostly peasant class army would rebel and refuse to fight, joining their civilian counterparts in protesting. Instead they were loyally following their Aesir officers. He’d anticipated that the upper class would move their investments into foreign banks and slip out of the country while Odin stop-gapped their inevitable overthrow. Yet they were rallying around their king and giving him their full support. Loki had fully expected that Odin, without the help of the fickle Aesir and with Thor out of touch, would accept his losing hand and disappear quietly with as much capital as he could grab to start up elsewhere, not barricade himself in his castle, deny Thor and try for a martyr’s end.

Loki was in the office, going back over the latest news reports when En came up behind him. Long fingered hands dug into his shoulders with practiced ease. Loki turned and nuzzled En’s forearm.

“Baby, you are so tense… You need to loosen up.” En said. His fingers found a tight knot at the top of his spine and Loki made a soft little moan as it unraveled.

“En, this mess.” He indicated the screen with a nod. “It’s not how it was supposed to happen. I wanted them out of power, not dead. I have to fix this.”

“Not gonna happen Lolo. History has to play out.” En’s hands worked up his neck, thumbs pressing along his vertebrae, fingers just a hair tighter on his throat then they needed to be.

“I started this. I can’t just stand by and let it all go to shit.” Loki’s chin was almost on his chest.

“You didn’t start it. This whole war thing has been brewing for years. Would have happened without you. You just gave it a little nudge. Didn’t Blondie come begging for your help to stop it?”

Loki had to admit that En was right. If he’d tried something like this a year or two ago it would have fallen apart before it got started. That fact didn’t help his feelings of guilt.

En reached around him, closed the browser, and opened a spread sheet. 

“Speaking of Blondie, I need you to go over this quarter’s budget on the Vegas operation. Expenses are running kinda high. Think you can sort it out like you did the Frisco account?”

Loki turned and looked over his shoulder at En. What the Vegas gym had to do with his brother, was a mystery of En's thinking process he was not going to try to fathom.

“The same way I did for you last week?” Loki said and his tongue trailed over his lips. 

“No, Honey, I think I’ll add a condition.” En moved Loki’s chair out of the way as the younger man stood up and turned to face him. Loki slid his arms around En’s waist and kissed his way up his throat. 

“What’s that?” Loki said nipping at En’s earlobe.

“I want a cost analysis of the potential earning verses training costs for the boxers. You know my methods for gauging performance, I wanna see you apply them, Kitten.”

“I love it when you talk dirty to me.” Loki said with a chuckle and bit down hard.

En’s hand fisted hard in his hair and jerked Loki’s head back.

“You little shit!” En said giving Loki a rough shake before releasing his grip. He touched his fingers to his ear and came back with a small smear of blood. He offered it to Loki who darted his pick tongue out and lapped it up. 

“Get to work Baby.” En said “I don’t pay you to stand around.”

“You don’t pay me at all.” Loki countered turning back to the screen and resting his elbows on the desk. “Maybe I should work up a spread sheet for all my expenses and hours.”

“You do that later.” En said, shoving Loki’s feet wider apart with his shoe. “For now, Vegas.”

He took a cigarette pack from his pocket, lit one and set the pack on the desk next to Loki. He ran his hands down Loki’s back, then around his waist to undo the clasp of his belt. 

“First impressions?” En asked around the cigarette.

“The utility costs are pretty damn high, but considering the heat….” Loki frowned and flipped back through the previous months. He took the cigarette that En pressed to his lips, not smoking it so much as holding it while En undid his pants and slid them off his hips. His shorts followed and En stroked a palm over his bare ass before retrieving his smoke. 

“Yeah… can’t have the fighters passing out in the gym. You see anything suspicious?” 

En caressed Loki’s butt as he bent forward, squeezing his cheeks and spreading them and tracing his fingertips between them. Loki shivered as the pads brushed over his anus. En had done this to him last week for the first time. He adored the challenge of having to focus on his work while En played with him.

“No, just a rate change in June. It checks out. Why are we not treating these guys in house? I see nine physical therapy sessions listed here. I thought Strange was taking care of that for you…” 

“He is, for the most part. Which fighter?”

The cigarette was placed back in his mouth and Loki took a drag, let the smoke fill his lunges and then trail from his nostrils. He felt the cool slickness of lube between his cheeks.

“Henderson. He’s listed as inactive. If he’s inactive why is he getting therapy? Your copay seems too high.”

Loki moaned as En slowly worked two slick fingers into his ass. “Oh gods that’s good.”

“Henderson…Pull up his file, Kitten.” Loki opened Henderson’s file and En looked over his shoulder, 

“Ah. That’s what I thought. Don't worry about it, Kitten.”

Loki was panting at the way En's fingers had shoved past the second knuckle and were now twisting slowly back and forth, but he was determined to figure it out. 

“What's what you thought? It just says training injury, pulled muscle. That’s ice and rest, not nine weeks plus of intensive P.T. Hell, En that happened the day after he transferred from Frisco.” 

“Don't worry means don’t worry, Baby.” 

En curled his fingers and pressed on Loki’s prostate. Loki clenched and gasped. His cock was starting to stiffen. That En entered him before he was aroused was all part of the game. Using Loki as he pleased without regard for Loki’s pleasure was only another facet of the role play. It backfired. The more his disregarded Loki, the hotter Loki found it. 

Loki went back to the gym records, scanning them for clues, as he checked En’s other fighters. He took a deep breath as En kissed down his spine.

“Ibarra is erratic as fuck. Three good fights, two wins, six poor showings and what? Did he just not even show up for a couple? This guy is a waste. If he was improving… but En, even his training is uneven. He’s either using or has some kind relationship bullshit going on.”

Loki read down the file. “He’s losing weight. Drop him. The guy’s using. “

“Clever boy.” En said. He pulled his fingers out and wiped them on Loki's shirttail. “I let him go yesterday.”

Loki heard the rustle of cloth and waited. He felt a warm firm touch on his slicked asshole and then En’s thick cock slowly filled him. Loki shut his eyes, put his head down on his arms and relaxed into it. En's hands so warm and strong on his hips anchored him. En twitched his shaft inside and Loki gasped again. 

“Oh yes… En…”

Loki rocked back till his butt was snug to En’s groin. He could get lost in this so easily, this feeling of being possessed, wanted….

A sharp slap on his ass brought Loki’s head back up.

“Hey Honey, you’re on the clock here.” En said with a soft laugh. 

Loki took a deep breath, by the Norns he loved this game. He smiled and scrolled down the page. 

“I’m not seeing anything else, here En. The costs are comparable to the other gyms in the area. You have a fairly good string… hmmm, Sherman is looking good in training, not too bad in the ring either. His weight is in the lower half of his class, bring him up so he has the heft and he's going to be winning a lot more.”

Loki steadied as En reached past him and got the pack and picked up the ashtray. He felt the cold glass on the small of his back. There was the click of a lighter and the smell of smoke as En lit a second cigarette. 

“Keep going Kitten, you’re doing well.” 

With one hand on Loki’s hip En pulled back slow and sweet. Loki couldn’t help moving to the tug at his inner walls, the slightest motion to match En's gentle thrusting. 

He continued checking the records. 

“Walthar's doing well for his age, he’s still pretty fast on his feet, but I'd be careful with his opponents.” 

Loki opened another page and read the reports. He turned his head to take a hit off the cigarette that En led to his lips. 

“Mmmm, like that Lover, just like that… I see you have him set to fight Reynolds. I think that’s a big risk. Reynolds is a hard hitter, if Walthar can’t stay out of his way and wear him down he’s going to get badly hurt. At his age it could be his last fight. Would it not be better to match him to Blackthorn?”

“Check Reynolds' fight schedule, Lolo.”

En was fucking Loki with an easy rhythm. Loki’s cock pulsed every time En bottomed out. It was a sweet kind of torture to have to drag his concentration back to the spreadsheets. He tried to sift out the relevant facts.

En ground his hips on Loki’s ass and half pulled out, keeping the gap by his bruising hard grip. Loki moaned, squirming as he tried to get more of En’s cock into him. 

“Ffffuck En!” Loki panted. “You are a bastard.”

“No, that’s you Baby.” He shoved back into Loki and felt the way the younger man clenched as though to hold his cock in place.

“Come on Loki.” En tapped his shoulder. “Focus, what do you see?”

Loki drew a shaky breath, licked his lips and scanned the roster.

“Hmmm, I uh, I see it now, he's got two fights prior, on opposite sides of the country. Is his manager a fool? He’s going to be dead on his feet. Why is he taking the guy to New York?” 

En's soft laughter made Loki turn his head. 

“Okay old man, let me in on it.”

“Uh uh. Keep looking.”

Loki wiped the sweat form his eyes and went over the other fighter’s schedule. 

“You sneaky son of a bitch. That second fight _was_ scheduled for Vegas. That’s the arena you invested in last month. You got the venue changed didn’t you?”

“The place needed renovations, the building inspector was adamant we shut it down immediately.”

Loki pulled up a search.

“Umm hmmm,” Loki said and settled back into En’s slow pumping. “As if you couldn’t have paid him to hold off till the end of the season? Shit! You got these guys going all over the country. Our guys, their guys, it’s a shell game isn’t it?”

“You are way too clever, Lolo.”  
En said and stroked his hands up Loki’s sides, crooked his fingers and raked his nails from armpits to hip bones, leaving paired trails of angry red stripes.

“Fuck yes!” Loki shuddered. His eyes fluttered shut and En’s hands traveled back up. He held them on Loki’s shoulder blades.

“Anything else baby?”

“Mmmm, Other than someone’s raiding petty cash for the price of fancy coffee every day? You don’t need that many paperclips and stamps, and why buy the eight dollar pen packs one week and the two dollar ones the rest of the time. I’d say your office manager is developing a bad habit.”

“Not the new girl?” En dug his nails in just under Loki’s clavicles and kept them there. 

“No. She has a half hour lunch break. She wouldn’t have time to get to the coffee shop and back. Office manager is the best bet, he has the easiest access.” Loki rubbed his rump on En’s groin. “Please.”

“Please what Kitten?” En bent down to kiss the top of Loki’s head.  
“Please scratch me some more. It hurts…aaaaah.”

En smiled and drew a second set of lines down Loki’s pale back. Loki shivered and gasped. En resumed rocking into him.

“He’s been putting the money back…”

“Huh?”

“The coffee money, it’s back in petty cash at the end of the month, at least it was in June and July. Everything else looks good. Maybe he just forgets to bring cash, or he’s getting off on the thrill of minor pilfering.”

“Or testing the waters for a larger theft.”

“Maybe, I’d need more information then you got here Lover. So how long is Henderson going to be in rehab?”

“Who said anything about rehab? He’s doing physical therapy.”

“Don’t bullshit me. The guy’s training schedule is all wrong for a pulled muscle. What happened? Did Bruce tear him up? Then you shipped him to Vegas to hide it and are paying for his rehab and silence.”

En’s hand closed hard around Loki’s throat. 

“Remember when I told you don’t worry about it?” 

En’s fingers tightened and he brushed his lips over Loki’s cheek. Loki’s hands tightened on the edge of the desk as his air was cut off. His heartbeat pounded in his head, his wrists, and his cock. He nodded wide eyed.

“Then don’t worry about it.”

En gave him a harder squeeze and released the pressure.

Loki gasped for air, licked his lips, took a second harsh breath and said,

“Could you do that again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm a total bastard. Accounting kink. Who knew?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interlude concluded. Loki's thoughts about the complications of fitting into En's lifestyle. The champion and a blast from the past.

En’s laugh was deep and throaty and sent shivers through Loki in all the right ways. The ash tray was removed from his back and En encircled his waist with his other arm, pulling Loki back tight to his hips.

“Not like Baby, don’t want to hurt you… permanently.” En said.

He slid his hand from Loki’s throat and stroked his cheek. Loki nuzzled his palm, squirmed his hips and clenched around En’s cock. The scratches on his sides and back were stinging as sweat gathered on his skin.

“Come on En, please, I really liked that. You are not going to…” 

His words were cut off as En’s palm pressed hard over his mouth and his nose was pinched between thumb and forefinger. He automatically grabbed the older man’s forearm to pull his hand away, then stopped. He trembled, blinked his eyes, fear sent his heart racing faster. His pulse pounded in his throat, behind his eyes and his cock throbbed. He struggled to draw breath. En snapped his hips backward and forward and his shaft sent waves of sensation through Loki’s body. His lungs burned and his vision started to fade to red on the edges. He dug his nails into En’s arm as he started to panic. En fucked into him harder, faster, pulling Loki upright and forcing him against the desk. His cock rubbed on the underside, the wood rough on the leaking glans. Fear bled over into pleasure as the feelings became too intense, his body singing with every touch. His eyes were watering, blinding him as darkness swallowed his sight. Pleasure turned to terror and he bucked, clawing at En’s arm in earnest, his thoughts hazing, pinned and vulnerable. He was drowning, waves washing over him, tumbling him in a swirling darkness. 

Air ripped into his lungs and he gasped, shaking uncontrollably. Heat, tightness wrapped him, held him. His lungs crushed, his cock crushed. He was torn apart from the inside, and he fell again. Fire as he drew in each tortured breath, fire sweeping up his shaft. Burning and release and a dark bitter pleasure at his own helpless response pulsed through his body. He shuddered in En’s arms, felt the older man’s lips on the back of his neck, and heard his words slowly gain meaning as the crackling, buzzing noise in his ears receded.

“… was perfect. So beautiful… The best… you’re the best Kitten…”

Loki’s legs were still quivering and if it weren’t for En’s steadying arm he would have fallen to this knees. He became aware of the sticky wet that ran down his relaxing cock, a matching slick that was oozing from his ass as En rocked gently into him, enjoying the last sensations from Loki’s frenetic spasming. He stroked till his own shaft softened and slipped out while Loki concentrated on standing, his thigh muscles weak and twitching, and his arms shaky as he spread his fingers on the desk and watched drops of sweat splat into tiny puddles on the polished wood.

“Fuck.” Loki said and shuddered again.

En half supported him until he could get the chair under Loki’s ass. Loki collapsed into the seat, careless of the mess he’d leave and clung to En’s supporting arm. 

“You okay Lolo?”

“Don’t know.” Loki said and shook his head in the negative, only to give a small cry of pain and put his hands up to his temples. “Shit.”

“Keep breathing Honey, slow easy breaths. There… just like that…you should see yourself.”

En’s handkerchief wiped a line of saliva from Loki’s chin. Loki blinked up at him. When, he wondered, had En had time to clean himself and fasten his pants? 

“You with me now, baby? You went away for a little bit… not that it isn’t cute and all…”

“I’m here, here now.” Loki took another deep breath and wondered how long, before it once again became an automatic action. 

“I think uh, maybe we are gonna shelve that for a while…hmm? A little too much for you.”

“Yes, no. I don’t know.” Loki said. The room was still moving out of the corners of his eyes and He really couldn’t separate out his tangled up physical response, much less his emotional one. He yawned suddenly tired. “I could use a nap.”

“You do that after you clean up your little mess.” En said and kissed Loki on the top of his head. “Bruce and Val are coming in tonight and I want us to go out for dinner. You and me and Val, Bruce isn’t one for fancy restaurants.”

Loki frowned at the “your little mess” as though it wasn’t En’s cum that was pooling under his butt. He didn’t remark on it. He’d learned such behavior was futile at best and punishable at worst. En had subtle ways of reminding Loki who was in charge and he didn’t want to put up with a week of petty bullshit. He focused on the second half of the statement.

“Val? You know she despises me and doesn’t bother to hide it.” Loki wondered if Brian was returning also. His shoulder twinged in remembered pain.

“Don’t be difficult Loki.” En said, turning away.

He closed down the accounting program and then password locked the computer, before shutting it off. Loki thought he could probably hack back in but the action was to tell him to stay off it. He’d obey for now.

“I won’t be the one making it difficult.”

“Good boy. Then we’ll all have a nice evening.”

The smile didn’t reach those golden eyes and Loki felt the threat. He couldn’t help his now visceral response. He bared his teeth in his most insincere grin.

“Why of course, Old Man. I do so look forward to again seeing your favorite procurer.” 

“Loki.” En’s hand was in his hair and his head was jerked back hard, his throat bared.

Loki laughed up at him, daring him to strike.

En instead caressed his cheek before letting him go, much to Loki’s disappointment.

“Not this time, you little shit. Maybe after dinner if you behave yourself.” 

It was En who was laughing as he left the office.

******

Loki cleaned up. He had stocked the office with the necessary supplies and was glad it was the leather office chair En had dropped him into. Not that En would have risked his own plush velvet one. His shirt still stuck to his skin in places. Even rucked up to his armpits it hadn’t escaped damage. It was damp with sweat and had a stain of lube on the hem where En had wiped his hands. He rolled it up and tucked one end into the back of his pants. He knew he stank of sex but it no longer shamed him. He took a kind of perverse pride in being En’s boy toy, in flaunting the marks of his passion. 

There was a twisted pleasure in waltzing out of the office and into the lunch crowded dining room and filling a tray from the buffet in blatant disregard of the shoes and shirt required sign, with his hair disarrayed and the bruises from En’s teeth reddening on his shoulders. He enjoyed watching the waitstaff try to hide their disgust behind strained polite smiles. He decided to be nice for once and not take one of the large booths for himself, though to be honest he really didn’t feel up to being in the presence of people now.  
He took the try up to the penthouse finished his meal, flipped on the TV and stretched out on the couch for a nap. An overdressed woman was either pleading with a doctor to save her husband when Loki nodded off. 

******

He awoke to a grey suited man explaining the benefits of his redevelopment plan and the sound of the shower. Loki sat up checked the time, a little after five, and clicked off the television. It was early to be getting ready for dinner. En must have a something planned prior to their meal. Loki stretched and glanced over at the bed. En hadn’t laid anything out for either of them. Which meant Loki got to guess what to wear. He decided to go with dress casual and took out black jeans and a forest green and black patterned silk shirt with a thread of gold woven into the design. If need be he could add a jacket. He spent a few minutes laying out his jewelry and buffed up the polish on his shoes. He’d learned that being overdressed was rarely a problem. He’d donned his street punk look once, to what turned out to be a formal affair. En hadn’t said a word against his dress choice, taken him along and then promptly dropping him once inside the door. It had been an excruciating three hours of being ignored by everyone from the caterers to the host. Loki had even had difficulty snagging enough drinks to get a mild buzz going, En apparently letting it be known he was not to be served alcohol. Once was enough. He took his cues from En’s wardrobe choices or in the event he wasn’t given a clue opted for upgrading his normal attire.

It was one thing to slouch around the hotel barefoot and shirtless in ragged jeans or a torn cheerleader’s skirt, his lips blackened and his eyes heavy with metallic eyeshadow and quite another to do so at a charity fundraiser.

Not that he’d given up his own style. His hair was clipped, razored and gelled into aggressive spikes one night and braided into intricate designs the next. He’d had it dyed so dark a green it looked almost black until the sun hit it. Loki applied his cosmetics with a lighter touch for these nights out, aiming for sexy not slutty. His piercings were gold now instead of the cheaper plated stuff, but he still wore all of them. En liked brushing his fingers over Loki’s chest and feeling the bars through his nipples or toying with the chain if he chose the linked rings. Loki considered wearing En’s latest gift. The necklace’s pendent was elegant scrolled calligraphy, layered and looped back on itself so it resembled entwined snakes. That it said ‘fuck toy’ made him smirk every time some stuffed shirt finally unraveled the twisting letters. With that in mind he put it next to the shirt. It would piss Val off to see him embracing his position instead of being ashamed of it.

The shower ended and Loki skinned out of his pants and underwear. En didn’t like waiting and Loki wasn’t going to dawdle over his own bathing. He knocked and opened the door and slipped behind En to take his place under the dripping shower head. He paused long enough to give the older man a hungry look. En met his eyes in the mirror and grinned for a moment before he resumed styling his hair. 

“You come to a conclusion yet Lolo?” En asked as the water sheeted down Loki’s back.

“About what?” Loki asked. 

He had a lot of things he’d been thinking about, not the least of which was why had En moved his champion up to Tahoe so soon. The fight with Thor wasn’t scheduled for another three weeks. Norns that was too soon. Asgard would be either prepping for war or ensnarled in one. What the hell was he supposed to do? Loki forced his attention back to En’s words.

“…out of it. I was a little worried about you, Kitten.” 

Loki tried to rewind the last few minutes, got nothing from his memory.

“It was pretty overwhelming.” That was general enough for most situations.

“Not just for you, Honey. You were almost seizing… mmmm…talk about a wild ride.”

So it was about this afternoon’s sex. The breath play to be exact. Which contrary to his “shelve it for a while” comment, En was starting to enthuse about. Loki knew where that went. He still felt ambivalent about the experience, intense, but not really pleasurable. It had been exciting and terrifying and it drove him so fast through orgasm he didn’t feel most of it. What he really remembered was the painful relief when air rushed back into his lungs and the sick feeling of dizzying helplessness. It wasn’t something he wanted to repeat anytime soon, if ever.

Loki tried changing the subject as he rinsed conditioner out of his hair.

“Where are we going tonight?” 

“I thought we’d stop by the gym first. You haven’t had chance to meet Bruce. He’s really something Lolo. A real killer. He destroys his opponents. You are gonna love him.”

Loki doubted that. He picked up his razor and gave his face a quick once over. En thought it barbaric that Loki shaved in the shower rather than going the whole shaving cream and aftershave route. He’d got in the habit when hot water was limited and took advantage of the heat from a fast shower to soften his beard. He didn’t see any reason to stop now. He rinsed off his face and shut down the water. En had left and Loki toweled off alone. He gelled his hair, ran his fingers through it and left it in a slightly messy style that covered one side of his face. Good enough for a dinner with En’s pet trainer. En had gone for pale slacks a white sports shirt and his tan jacket. Loki quickly dressed, grabbed his jacket and cosmetics bag. He could do his makeup in the car. He joined En in the elevator before the older man could start tapping his toe, a sure sign of impatience.

They took the convertible and drove into Reno. Loki was glad that Val wasn’t going to be a fixture in the hotel and relaxed into En’s chatter as they drove. They turnedd into a rundown neighborhood and Loki felt his shoulders tensing. It wasn’t that long ago he’d lived in places like this, scrounging for money, one step away from living on the street. Even worse was the first time he’d run from Asgard. Thor had caught up with him in New York when he was stoned out of his mind turning what had started as a peaceful protest into a riot. He hadn’t seen Loki in the weeks before, breaking into shuttered shops or down on his knees in an ally, sucking some stranger’s cock for the price of his next high. Loki wondered if only reason he hadn’t contracted some disease was because he looked so strung out the John’s were the ones who wanted a condom before fucking him.  
Thor thought his relationship with En was fucked up only because he didn’t know what came before. Loki glanced over at the older man. He was handsome, clean and he treated Loki for the most part like a valued employee and lover. Yeah he fucked with his head, and sometimes beat him, but it wasn’t anything Loki couldn’t handle. Hell it wasn’t anything, when he got down to it, that Loki didn’t crave. In return he had a fantastic place to live, fancy clothes, great food. He went to plays and shows and dancing. There were parties and galas and all he had to do was look pretty and enjoy the attention and envious glances. 

True, he had yet to collect a paycheck. The contract for him performing had never materialized. Money was something that En didn’t give him and he never asked for. Loki didn’t want to examine why. He slid closer to En instead and pressed a kiss to his cheek. The older man smiled and gave Loki’s knee a squeeze.

“Have I ever told you how happy I am?” Loki asked. “To be with you?”

En pulled into a parking lot by an older building, its paint peeling and a heavy chain on the front door. He shut off the car and turned to Loki a quizzical expression on his face.

“What’s up Kitten?” He cupped Loki’s chin in one big hand, brushed a thumb over his cheek. “You don’t usually go all sentimental on me.”

Loki shrugged.

“Nothing is up. I just thought you should know.” 

“Umm hmmm. “ En said clearly not believing him.

He gave Loki’s jaw a squeeze and let him go. 

“Fuck you.” Loki said but there was no ranker in his voice and he laughed when En lifted an eyebrow at him. 

“Not now, Baby”

“But you said you were going to show me your champion.”

That got a laugh out of En and he was chuckling as he led Loki around the back of the building.

The back was unlocked and they entered into a musty smelling, though brightly lit room. Exercise equipment lined one wall though the majority of the space was taken up by two boxing rings. The first was empty, but in the second two men circled and jabbed their other gloved hands blurring. One boxer was as tall as Thor, heavy of chest and arms but smaller through the waist and hips giving him an oddly top heavy appearance. The other man was enormous, approaching seven feet tall and with shoulders that seemed impossibly wide. All of him was impossible. His thick torso became massive thighs and powerful calves. Those shoulders led to bulging biceps and muscular forearms and fists that looked like they could slam through steel. His movements were heavy and ponderous as he moved but frighteningly fast when he punched. Though the men’s features were obscured by the protective helmets, there was something unsettlingly familiar about the large man.

Loki moved closer to the ring, trying to figure out where he knew the man from. If he watched him fight, he could give Thor some insight on how to beat him. The man was taking a pounding and showing little effect from it.

“Get your hands up big guy, your defense is still weak.” Val said as she watched.

En’s champion landed a blow that sent the other man staggering halfway across the ring. Loki frowned, the guy was way too strong. Something was off about him. 

“Remember this is only practice.” Val called. “Go easy on him.”

The boxer answered with a deep growling voice that sent a chill up Loki’s spine.

“He want easy, he no should be in ring.”

Loki froze. He knew that voice. He flashed back to a tall heavy boy with burning dark eyes and a nose broken from fighting. His family had him there to be treated for rage episodes. Loki had little to do with the guy, passing him in hallways or seeing him at meals. He’d disappeared for a time and there were whispers that he’d undergone some kind of surgery. Loki had his own problems by then and paid little attention. Then one day he was walked toward the boy shambling down the hall, his head wrapped in bandages. One of Loki’s keepers shoved the big kid to move him and all hell broke loose. Both attendants were grabbed, thrown and pounded into the block walls, their blood splattered like paint across his face and clothes before self-preservation kicked him out of shock. Loki had shuffled to the walled courtyard before he was overtaken. He was knocked down, seized by the shackles around his ankles and slammed into the ground over and over again before the man was drugged into unconsciousness. The only thing that saved him from more than cracked ribs, a broken ankle and a bruised back was the relative softness of the rain soaked grass. 

The sound of a bone cracking blow, a howl of pain, and Val’s angry, 

“Damn it Bruce!”

snapped Loki back into the present. He backed away from the ring, his heart pounding as the giant pulled off his helmet. Loki turned toward the door intent on leaving. En stepped in front of him.

“Whoa, whoa, where are you going?” En caught him by the arm and directed him to a chair. “Sit down. Kitten, you look terrible.” 

Loki glanced over his shoulder and saw ‘Bruce’ following Val out of the ring and toward the back of the building. There was another woman bending over the fighter who was laying on his back and moaning. Two more men climbed into the ring.

“He sure is something isn’t he? Incredible!” En said with pride.

“Yes.” Loki managed, glad when the giant disappeared into a dressing room, without a glance toward him. 

Val's higher voice interlaced with his low rumbles as she berated the 'big guy' for his carelessness in hurting his training partner. Loki was amazed the crazy killer didn’t turn and smash her into pulp. He wondered how he had made it into the US and into En’s hands. The last he heard the man had escaped the institution. The lack of any follow up made Loki suspect that he’d been killed. Obviously he hadn’t.

He remembered the man covered with burly attendants trying to hold him down as needle after needle was injected into his flailing form, as Loki was dragged away. He shuddered again.

How the fuck was Thor supposed to fight that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we get to finally meet Bruce. I hope no one expected him to be green. Loki has adapted so far, but now things are going to get complicated.  
> So much for act two. Don't worry, this story will be concluded in the third part.  
> "Just Like Fire"

**Author's Note:**

> This starts out from Thor's viewpoint, but don't worry. The disfunctional duo will shortly return.


End file.
